The Cyrosyl Theory
by Tyrammafar
Summary: Traitorous acts are a part of human life,but it is new to Xenomorphs.Until now,none have dared,or wanted,to go against their Queen's wishes.Now one has,and it has chosen a path that none of it's kind have before. [AvP set in the year 1986 in Roswell, NM]
1. Introduction

**Done much sooner than I hoped.**

**My first attempt at an Alien fic. Except for the world which it takes place in, pretty much everything but a few characters are mine. This first chapter is more of an intro, explaining the theory behind the story, and why it is named thus. Just read it if you want to, or wait for chapter two, the start of the real story. And now to the story; I won't detain you long in these notes.**

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**Chapter 1**

**The Cyrosyl Theory**

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Animal behavior is a strange thing, and humans have long studied it to make sense out of their own behavior. But animals don't do the things we do; we are far too complex for that. We often fill in the gaps with rumor, legend, and myth, but almost all was based on fact. One of those myths is shared by many cultures, races and even species. The most well defined behavior of all life, human or otherwise…is traitorous.

We strive for something greater, and sometimes our own allies get in our way, and must be pushed aside. One example of this is a concept told in many different versions, but all of them come together into one story that is actually true…

One example is well remembered for the blood shed at the time, but the story behind the events was never truly discovered…until just recently.

Once, many centuries ago, there was a war. Not between humans, but with an alien species. We have long merely called them aliens, but these are not the only ones out there, and so we now call them…Xenomorphs.

They are the hunters of all life, the perfect killers. They are born to wipe out civilizations, and ours happened to be on their figurative hit-list. But then, nearing the end of the war, the Xenomorphs returned…and came to Earth. They were thought extinct, but like we have been time and again, we were proven wrong. A handful made it to Earth, going through time and space itself to wipe us out from early on.

And so the Cyrosyl Theory comes into play. Life seeks life, and its own kind didn't come to match its definition of life. It wanted something more, and so this warrior of the Xenomorph race abandoned its kind and roamed the city.

The year was not past even 2000…it was 1986, and humans were weak. While the others of its kind began their deadly campaign, this one Xenomorph moved on its own, seeking life to be with.

It found what it was searching for.

Let us start from the beginning, when it all went wrong and the Xenomorphs began to attack. Right after the one warrior had left, and before it had found what it was searching for. It was alone and lost in a small human city…

…and it was hungry…

**The story will begin in the next chapter, and I will revise this as it goes on. I know it isn't a good start, but there ya go…**

**-Tyrammafar the Worldmaker**


	2. Alien Attack

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**Chapter 2  
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**Alien Attack**

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_Roswell, New Mexico_

_November 1986_

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The Xenomorph looked out over the lights of the human town, waiting for its chance to move. The Hive would be after him, and the Queen herself would be angry…but for the first time he didn't care. He was a warrior, and had more free will than the drones. He could resist some commands, and that allowed him to leave the Hive to find…something. Something was missing from his life, he knew it, but he needed to discover what it was.

He was born from a human, and was more intelligent than some of his non-human fellows. While they came from various animals, he had come from a human, one of the greatest host species. And he was the greatest of the Queen's creations…she would be _very _angry to know that he abandoned her. He didn't even know _how _he had done it, but he was alone now, and this loneliness crushed him like a pile of rocks.

He was a warrior, a larger class of Xenomorph. They were as tall as a human when standing straight, and much stronger than the drones…and much more intelligent, not including his human intelligence. But unlike others, he was designed for a special purpose; to communicate. He was the Hive's translator when it came to humans, and he had no inner jaw, instead he had a resonating chamber and a tongue, allowing him a range of vocal patterns…including basic speech. The Queen wanted to be prepared for anything, and bargaining with traitorous humans was one option, and so he had been born.

The warrior saw an opportunity to cross the road, and he took it, running at top speed across the highway. But he hadn't counted on a single drunk driver, who had his lights off and was traveling nearly eighty miles an hour. With a blinding flash and a burst of pain he knew he had been struck, and he rolled towards the edge of the road, motionless. He tested his limbs instantly, recovering from a near fatal accident. He was a warrior; it would take more than a car to kill him.

"Hsss!" He growled in pain; his left foreleg was broken, that was plain now, but it would heal and be usable in time. He stood on two legs now, holding his injured arm at his side, limp. A spot of light caught his eye, a human home. The first thought he had was of food,, and with the energy that came with it, healing. He moved towards it, silent in the darkness of the New Mexico night…

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_Rustle…rustle rustle…tap…tappity tap…CRASH!_

"Wha?" Sara bolted awake, looking around for the source of the noise. She listened for a moment, then heard something past her door.

_Tap…tap…creeeeak…_

_Someone's in my house! _Sara slid out of bed, clad only in her nightgown. For a woman of twenty-three she was very quiet, and she had taken advantage of her stealth to sneak out of the house when she was a girl. She reached into a corner of her room and grabbed a bat, opening her door and steeping out into the cold hall. The floor was wood, not carpeted, and the stairs nearby were as well. She stepped down them slowly, trying to see what was in her house before he or she saw her.

She caught a glimpse of something black dart into the kitchen, and she stepped closer to the doorway, holding the bat up high.

_Creeeak… _The refrigerator door had been opened, and she heard rattling noises coming from in the room. She turned around the corner, seeing something behind the door, just past her oak table in the middle of the room. Sara stepped closer, trying to see who was there…

A black shape stood by the door, rummaging through her fridge. The light illuminated a shiny black surface that covered the person, and she noticed he or she had a very skeletal appearance. Bu then she saw the spiked tail, which whipped about behind the person, and the oblong head and spines that lined the intruder's body. Whatever it was, it wasn't from Roswell…

The intruder hissed and closed the door, turning to leave, and froze when it saw her. It was solid black from head to foot, and most certainly not human. The bat dropped from Sara's nerveless fingers. The _creature _hissed loudly, crouching into a fighting stance and raising its tail over its head, several blades extending from the end to make it like a mace. It had no eyes to speak of, but somehow she could _feel _it staring at her.

"Oh…God…"

"Hsssk!" The creature hopped onto the table, claws gripping the edge. It dropped to all fours…then yelped in pain, stumbling to its left side. It was hurt, and badly. "Sss…ksss…" It hissed, trying to stand, but its left arm was bent nearly double.

"Oh my God…it's an…alien!" Sara finally cried, taking a step back.

The creature became very still suddenly, going limp. It must have passed out from pain. Sara stared at it for a few moments, but it didn't move at all, its blade covered tail hanging limply from the edge of the table. It was not breathing, but it was still alive…somehow she knew it. There was almost an aura of fear and death around the creature.

She picked up the bat from the floor, raising it above her head to try and cave in the alien's skull…and she stopped. _What was she thinking?_ It was helpless as it was, and it was injured, badly as well. She set down the bat, trying to think…_what would she do? _She had seen a few movies, but it didn't prepare her for this sort of thing in the slightest. She knew she had to set the bone somehow, or it would likely be crippled for life.

Sara looked around for something to make a splint from, but nothing presented itself. She sighed, looking down at the shiny carapace that was the creature's hide, and reaching out to touch it. It was smooth as glass, and surprisingly warm to the touch. Sara shook her head, moving the arm, but the creature didn't respond with so much as a twitch. She was not cruel by any means, she could tell how painful this must be; its arm was broken clean in two, right at the middle of the forearm. She grabbed one of the halves, grimacing and trying to piece the bone back together. It had broken very cleanly.

Sara jerked back as the arm twitched in her grasp, and she waited for the creature to go still. She reached forward, setting the bone in its proper place and looking around for a splint. She looked down at the creature…and realized it was awake, and it was looking at her. It had no eyes at all, but she could tell it was _looking _at her. She swallowed, eyes wide in sheer terror, but the creature didn't move at all.

"You're hurt…" She said, not really understanding why. "I need…to make…a splint…to hold your arm while it heals." She said very slowly. The creature suddenly moved, pulling out of her grasp…the broken arm appeared fine, and it even supported it when it stood on all fours; it seemed to her that it had healed in the second after the bone was joined, nothing less. Its lips drew back, revealing silvery, razor-sharp teeth, and drool dripped from its mouth. It gave a hiss and a feral snarl, stepping backwards with tail raised high, then lifting its arms up and bending its knees to pounce.

Sara broke then. She screamed, ducking and running through the doorway of the kitchen, not bothering to look back, she knew it was following her. She ran to the door, finding it open, and ran out in front of the house, the road before her empty of vehicles to hail. She was thrown to the ground from behind, and pinned down, the creature hissing in her ear. She felt a sharp pain in her neck, and the world suddenly went black…

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The Xenomorph threw the human woman over his shoulder, looking around for someplace to hide. Its gaze settled on the house, and it retreated to it, closing the door behind it. He dropped the woman, looking for a place to secure her, but she stirred. Mere seconds later and the poison was already wearing off? She was strong, very strong. The Xenomorph took the next choice it thought of, leaping upwards and clinging to the very atoms that made up the ceiling, and waiting…

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Sara gasped, looking around her, but there was no sign of the creature anywhere. There was nothing at all to show that it had even been here, but she knew it in her heart that it had…and it might still be there. _No_, she thought to herself, _it would have left after knocking me out._

She stood up slowly, her legs weak, and looked for her bat, but it was nowhere to be seen. She headed up the stairs, watching the shadows around her in case the creature suddenly leapt out at her. The house was silent, completely and totally silent. The stairs didn't even creak as she went up them. It was like a calm before the storm, she thought. It seemed that the creature had left.

She ran to her room from the top of the stairs, slamming the door and looking around, and she saw her bat in the corner. Had she even gone downstairs with it? Was this attack her imagination? Was she dreaming? She sat down on the bed, wringing her hands and trying to reason with herself. She decided to let it wait until morning, throwing herself on the bed and not bothering to cover herself up, seeking sleep.

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The Xenomorph watched the human for a while, calculating. It would wake soon, and then he would have to act, but he didn't know whether to kill and eat it, or take it back to the Hive…the latter he could not do, as he would not want to return to the Queen in her anger at his abandoning her. He waited then, securing himself to the ceiling. When it woke, and had a chance to defend itself…he would pounce, and he would eat well…

Xenomorphs preferred their food when it was running…

**Story is terrible right now, I know, but as I get into the rhythm of this new story it should improve greatly. As for what will happen…I'm not sure myself; it might be good no matter what happens.**

**Until I get home to write the next chap…**

**-Tyrammafar the Worldmaker**


	3. A Little Sidetrip

**And here it is… all wrapped up in the (semi-)neat bow that is FF.**

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**Chapter 3**

**A Little Side-Trip**

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Sara opened her eyes to see the sun streaming in through her window. Obviously she was still alive…she must have dreamed it all up. She sat up, and saw that the bat was still in its corner, just as she left it. She smiled, shaking her head at her own childishness, despite what others around here might say; there was no such thing as aliens.

Sara slid out of bed, not bothering to slip on shoes. She opened the door, stepping out into the hallway. The stairs creaked ominously halfway down, but she only paused for a moment to note which step it was. It was then that she saw it; small scratches in the wood flooring of the entryway, and gouges on one side of her table. _What the hell? _

"Hsssk…" Sara froze, not daring to move for fear that the creature should pounce. Nothing happened for several seconds, and she slowly turned around…to see nothing there. She heard a faint sound and an organic clacking, like shell. She then looked up at the white ceiling, and like a spot of the Abyss itself, there hung the creature watching her. She didn't move, and it drove its tail into the ceiling, lowering itself down with the tail as an anchor. It looked at her eye-to-…teeth…upside-down, hissing angrily.

Sara screamed.

With speed that surprised even her, she brought her feet towards her and fell to her back, kicking out with her left leg, but missed the creature, who withdrew to the ceiling. It unhooked its anchor tail, crawling swiftly from the room, heading into the foyer. Sara ran the other way, but then turned as she heard her door open and slam closed. The creature had left from her front door.

Sara walked slowly to the doorway, peering around the corner. From a window she saw the creature running across the bare red earth that was this area's soil, and making for the city of Roswell, a quarter-mile to the south. She was greatly relived by it leaving, but as soon as she sighed with it she stiffened, thinking.

_Would it come back? Would it bring more? Is it really a killer? What is it _reallyAnd the thing she knew she needed an answer for… _Should I have let it go? _The city of Roswell was well known for an incident in 1947, when a UFO supposedly crashed more than seventy-five miles from here. It was one of the biggest tourist traps in the state, and so the rumor was fueled by residents for their own gain. Sara herself had never believed in aliens…until now. And one of her worst thoughts was…_What will happen if more people see it?_

_I have to find it, and make sure no one finds out there's…an alien…in Roswell. _Another thought struck her as she ran up the stairs. _Maybe the crash story was true? Did this creature escape from a government site and was looking for its craft? Was it one of the aliens coming to look for survivors? Is it even an alien at all?_

Sara threw on clothes, not bothering with what it was. It so happened to be a lime-green tee and blue-jean shorts. She grabbed her keys, running down the stairs and out onto the lawn, only just remembering to close the door behind her. Her car, an old Corolla, sat in the dusty drive, the white paint bright in the late-morning sun. She grabbed the car handle, then let go as the metal burned her fingers. She tried again, barely registering that she had forgotten to lock her car the following night.

The engine roared, smoke coughing out of the exhaust pipe for a second, and she set the car in reverse, slamming on the gas…

_I better not get a ticket while saving this alien's ass from tourists… _Sara thought.

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The Xenomorph hated the bright light of the sun; it was so hot that it made even his highly evolved species unable to function properly. He saw the clustered building of the human city, running on all fours. _Why was he running from a human woman? _He didn't answer his own question, leaping to the top of a squat building with a loud screech. He hid behind a large sign that stood on top of the building, resting in the shade for a moment.

He could hear human voices all around…and hear hearts beating, pumping blood to all parts of their bodies. He could hear and smell their breath, taste the pheromones, and see their vacant, unsuspecting eyes. It was all he could do to not leap into their midst. But…one human caught his attention. He was out in the middle of the sidewalk, holding a bottle of something. He had a terrible smell on him, and the others avoided him as if he were filth.

He wouldn't be missed.

The alien crawled down into a shaded alley, hiding behind a stack of milk crates. He tried to form a voice with his own mouth, but his vocal systems were not fully developed. He would have to try something else. Maybe telepathy?

The Xenomorph sent a thought to the man, trying to get him to come to him. The man shrugged and walked in his direction without delay, none of the passing humans paying attention. When he was beyond their view, the Xenomorph clapped his hand around the man's mouth, holding his head near to his ear.

"Mmmph!" The man tried to scream, but the alien held his tail blade to the man's throat and he stopped, breathing heavily. The Xenomorph turned the man to face him. With a quick motion he removed the man's head with his tail, kicking the head into the alley and leaping to the rooftop with his prize.

_Humans…so stupid... and so delicious…_

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Sara swept her eyes back and forth across the street, looking for any sign of the alien. There was nothing at all, and no one said anything about it. There was no sign of the creature…as if it had just vanished. Sara sighed, tapping her foot and searching for any place where she could ask about it. A small flash on top of a building caught her eye, and when she looked up she saw a black shape moving about behind the letter C on a store. She stood up on the hood of her car, trying to get a better look.

But there was something strange…this alien was smaller, thinner, and with longer spines. It didn't move smoothly like the other, but mechanically, and its head was shaped differently. This wasn't the same one that had been in her home. _More of them? _The creature looked about, and another exactly like it came from behind the letter H next to it. _Two?! _The two aliens watched the crowd from their vantage point, but no one saw them but her…because she was looking for them. One of them left, and the other looked to its left and gave a piercing shriek that seemed to come from all directions. People stopped what they were doing and looked around, clapping hands to their ears, but the creature had left as well.

_What was it doing? _Sara watched the rooftops for a long time, but saw nothing else. She was about to leave when something grabbed her from above, gripping her shoulders and lifting her up. The next thing she knew she was on the rooftop, one of the aliens staring into her face. She resisted the urge to scream, eyes wide…and she realized this was the one from her home.

_What is it doing? _The alien was silent, not making a noise, not making a move, just staring at her with its lips sealed over its teeth. It suddenly grabbed her again, lowering her back to the hood of her car, and to her astonishment no one even noticed what had happened. _What the hell just happened?! _She looked up at the roof above her, but there was nothing there…

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_The human followed me? _The Xenomorph was confused. It was unarmed, and had come searching for him, seeing others of his kind in the process and not taking action. _Strange behavior for a human…_

The Xenomorph crawled across the rooftop, leaping across the gaps when it had to. The stone of the roofs hurt a little from the heat, but he could handle it…and he was too busy thinking to notice. _I need to find out why there are drones here…if the queen really cared about me she would have some herself! Maybe she doesn't care for me…doesn't care for her own child. Your Majesty…forgive me…_

The alien decided to find out who this human was that seemed interested only in him, and leapt across the entire street to another rooftop, trying to find a way back towards the human's home.

He was not aware of the shadows following him…

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Sara pulled into her drive, turning off the engine and sitting there for a moment, thinking to herself. _What should I do now? I found the alien, and I didn't do anything. They seem to be pretty good at hiding out…why am I worrying about them? _She happened to glance out her right window, and saw a black dot moving towards her. _Is that…the creature?! _The one dot turned into three…it had brought its fellows.

At least, she thought that until it turned around, seeming to be surprised by the appearance of the two smaller aliens. Within a second the larger one was pinned to the ground, the others beating him with their tails and flat of the hands. The one on the ground struggled, but it was only one against the two. For some reason Sara found herself outside her car, a can of mace in her hand, and then the next second she was by the kicking and screeching trio, the can held high.

One of them turned and launched itself at her, and she sprayed it in the chest. It dropped to the ground, scrabbling at its black carapace. _It must affect their skin, as they have no eyes_. Sara kicked the alien on the ground in the head, and it tried to reach out to grab her, and then it went still as something found its head again…the larger alien's tail spike. Yellow-green blood sprayed on everything…including Sara's shoes. The liquid frothed and hissed, melting into the white tops of the shoes, and she kicked them off in a hurry. The other alien leapt away, trying to escape, but was caught by the tail. With another stroke it suddenly had no head at all, and it dropped to the ground, twitching.

Sara stared down at the dead alien by her feet, dropping the can of mace. She had helped in a murder…but these were aliens, she wouldn't get arrested. Still, she had helped another in killing its own kind. She then looked up at the creature from her home, which was now _eating _its dead attackers. Sara cried out in disgust and terror, running towards her house, opening the door and slamming it shut.

_That thing is a cannibal! _Sara looked around for something to prop against the door, then found a chair and set it against the knob. She sat down on the wooden floor, finally breaking down into tears…

Sara looked up at the door; it hadn't made a sound or moved for an hour, and she sat there looking at it. She finally stood, pulling the chair away and setting it back where she had found it, staggering towards the kitchen. She wasn't hungry at the time, but she needed water, she was thirsty.

She gasped and slumped against the wall as she saw the creature, sitting on the table with a knife in its hand. It had its back to her, crouching down on the table and drawing something onto the wood with the point of the knife. It then flicked its tail forward, retracing the lines it had drawn. It turned around as she took a breath, hissing slightly, but not as much as last time.

"Oh my god…you killed them!" Sara screamed, crying and gasping for air. The alien cocked it head, tossing the knife away and pivoting on its foot to face her. "God…god…god, please don't let this happen to me…"

"Hsssk…" The alien crawled forward, off the table and then standing in front of her. It was just her height, and she looked up at its blank head, which had no eyes to stare back into. It showed its teeth in a smile, or what looked like a smile, and Sara took a step backwards. Sara felt something whisper in her ears, but she didn't catch what it was saying. At the same time, the alien cocked its head, giving a hiss.

"Leave me alone…" Sara pleaded, stepping back further, making it out the doorway. "Please…just go away…"

_Ssssrey… _Sara heard a whisper around her, in all directions, and the alien hissed.

"Just go…I don't want you here."

"Hssk…" The creature crouched and jumped backward, twisting in the air to grab the ceiling. It crawled along it, going out an open window in one corner of the room.

_So that's how it got in… _Sara believed it had finally left for good. She moved forward, looking down at the lines etched onto the table.

It was a triangle, with four dots arranged in a box above the point. On top of the triangle sat a line, deeply etched, curving about to meet on both sides of the triangle. (**SEE A/N**) It made no sense at all to her, but it seemed important…whatever it was.

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_Estimated time to arrival…thirteen jeracs. _The computer showed on a screen. Frizak smiled with his bottom mandibles, clicking. His armor was new, and not scarred like other warriors. His spear was clean of blood, onyx metal that held a distinct beauty all its own. His mask was of the highest quality, made for more than just hunting, as was his very body.

Frizak Kahliss was a jewel among his kind, a young male that had never before hunted. Never had he killed another thing, all his life spent learning from his elders. He had no skulls as trophies, no marks on his skin, he was a new warrior, about to begin his walk along the path of glory. While elders were respected, the young hunters just beginning their lives as a member of the clan were sacred.

They were the start of a new generation of proud warriors, who would honor their clan with great victories…or disgrace them with crushing defeats.

Such was the way of the Yautja.

"Cr-k-k-k-k-k-k-k…" The sound of the hunter's mandibles clicking echoed inside the ship, unheard by the creatures soon to be its prey…

**About the above drawing. I have a picture of it on my DeviantArt account, and there is a link to my page in my profile. It is in the scraps area, and while you're there, go ahead and look at my other work! (not the scraps though, those aren't that good XD)**


	4. Second Impressions

**Wow. Only two reviews as of the time this chapter is posted…**

**Why can't you try a little harder to say something? A single line is all I need; the point is that you provide **_**some **_**feedback in return for reading the story. To the one person who actually reviews…thank you. You get a cookie.**

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**Chapter 4**

**Second Impressions**

_First impressions are usually wrong. –Anonymous_

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There are a few parts to the Cyrosyl theory. It was named after the man that developed the base of our government, but why him? He had turned traitor to get where he was. This brings me to the second part of the theory…

When something turns against a group or an individual, it is to gain something, but when that is attained they seek to use their gains to establish other alliances. This is the second part. First is the original traitorous act, second is the creation of a new alliance. This is much more complex than it may seem, and you may think that this is a terrible way to explain it, but the point is that this behavior is show by _all _living things, not just humans.

As the night progresses, I will take the time to explain how this all works…

Sara opened her eyes slowly. She had slept nearly the entire day, and she looked out the window to see the sun almost beyond the horizon. She was sitting across three chairs, having fallen asleep while watching for the alien creature. She yawned sleepily, sitting up in one chair and looking around for a clock, but she had forgotten that she had removed it. She yawned again, shaking her head, and then stiffened as she heard someone else yawn.

She looked upwards, and there was the creature, hanging on the ceiling with tail limb below. It had its claws hooked into the drywall, and it seemed it had fallen asleep there as well, waiting for her. Sara did her best to ignore the alien, standing up and opening the pantry door. Some things had been moved around a bit, and she knew that the alien must have been digging around for food. She found something that was untouched, a box of crackers. She wasn't really hungry.

When Sara turned around she saw the alien sitting on the table before her, tracing the lines it had drawn with its tail. Really, she couldn't care less about the table; there was an alien sitting on top of it to make up for the fact that it was now ruined. It hadn't been too expensive anyway. It was watching her, or at least it seemed to be, as it had no eyes. It hissed, showing its teeth, but did not attack.

_Maybe hissing is a sort of greeting? _Sara thought. She sat down, the alien flicking its tail over its head, the multi-bladed tip clicking apart and together, like it was a sort of biological Swiss army knife. One with four blades, though. "What's your name?" She found herself asking the alien. It cocked its head, saying nothing back. _Does it understand me? _Sara shook her head, opening the box and pulling out one of the salted wafers. "Why are you here? What am I to you?"

"Hssssssk…" The creature hissed.

"That's not an answer. Do you understand me?" The alien didn't answer, instead pushing forward to 'stare' right into her eyes. Sara heard a faint whispering, like the wind blowing, and then it formed into a discernable voice.

_I understand… _The voice said.

"You _can _speak!" The alien drew back, seeming pleased with its efforts in communicating. "Are you…telepathic? You speak with your thoughts?"

There was a faint whisper of sound from all around her. _Yes…_

"Wow…a real _live _alien…" Sara murmured. The creature hissed, flicking its tail close to her face and making her flinch. "Why are you here? What do you want?"

_I do not know…it is because of you. _The alien said in its strange mental voice, which came from al directions. _You followed me earlier…why?_

"Because you're an alien…" Sara thought it would be obvious. "This city is _known _for aliens…if someone saw you, you would be in a lab in a heartbeat, or on display in a zoo." Sara sighed when the alien hissed again. "If you want to survive, you can't just go waltzing about town."

_I was hungry…_

"Then why not eat here?"

…_you didn't have the kind of meat I eat…_

"Oh." Sara sighed, standing up. "What is that that you carved into my table?"

_I don't know…I just did it. _Sara noticed something strange about how the alien spoke.

"You don't use the word 'I' very well, do you?"

_I have never needed to use it. _The alien stepped off the table, standing on all fours. _You are not afraid of me…why?_

"Should I be?"

_You should be terrified of your life. _The alien said with a hiss. _You are just another human, and you are not afraid of me. I smell your fear, but you do not run…_

"You're just an alien…" Somehow the statement nearly made her laugh with its irony.

_An alien that is _born _to kill humans…until I left my Queen. She will kill me for turning on her, I have no doubt. _

"Who is this Queen?"

_The Hive Mother, the Queen, the lady of all our kind, the one who gave birth to me. She is our lives, our souls, everything to us…but she gave me too much freedom and I have broken from her control._

"You're like ants, then. You all serve a queen who controls each member." Sra reasoned.

_I believe that the Queen compared us to a creature on this planet called a bee…_

"So what do you want with me? Why are you here?"

_Because I met you first…and you do not fear me like others of your kind. You are a provider of safety to me. Until the Hive is large enough, her Majesty will not risk attacking a human city as close as we are. _The alien said; it was getting better at communicating, as its words were becoming clearer and its voice smoother and more human sounding. _As long as I am near a human…I am safe._

"So when you're here the queen won't try and kill you?"

_She will think of the Hive a s a whole. I am but one warrior…she has many more to spare. If she finds me unguarded by humans, I will die, but if humans are around they will hide. You are very hard to kill when in numbers like there is in this city._

_So that's it…it's using me for its own survival. _Sara thought.

_That is the idea._

"You can hear my thoughts?!"

_I _am _telepathic, am I not? _The alien mocked.

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_Landing sequence initiated. _The computer said on the large screen, the red lines flickering. Frizak snapped the hoses on his mask together, finally prepared for the hunt. The ship was cloaked, and landing in an area that it would be safe in for the time being…and there was a reasonably large human city nearby. Frizak attached his spear to his belt, the collapsed rod weighing near to nothing. His net-gun was loaded with a regenerating webbing system, and was made for a long hunt. His plasma caster was tucked into the armor, hidden until he really needed it. As a final touch, he coated his wrist blades in oil, rubbing the metal with his fingertips to protect it from the humidity that some places on this planet had.

The hatch opened and he stepped out onto the plateau, looking out over the city. He chuckled to himself…this would be a good hunt indeed.

**I forgot to mention in the story…Sara has dirty-blonde hair. Also…the Xenomorph has a slightly bluish cast to his carapace, giving it the appearance of gun-metal.**


	5. Learning to Cope

**The Queen must mate every twenty years in order to lay eggs, after their first hundred years. This Queen in the story has passed the hundred year mark, and now can no longer lay eggs; unless it finds a new male Praetorian to be a sort of 'King'. Hope this clears up something. This does not apply to the AvP Queen, who was in static most of the time and still in her hundred year breeding period after birth at the time of the movie.**

**--------------------**

**Chapter 5**

**Learning to Cope**

_Humans are the greatest of adapters; not physically, but mentally. -Anonymous_

**--------------------**

…_you see, my kind's blood is an acid…it will melt through just about anything. _The creature explained to Sara, hanging from the ceiling by his claws. After a few questions, Sara had determined that all of these 'Xenomorphs' are male except for the Queen.

"So that's what happened with my shoes…" She shuddered as she remembered the incident the day before. "So you can't be killed by anything close up?"

_Not exactly…_The alien hissed, tilting his head. _We _can _be killed, but chances are that the attacker will die as well, either by our blood, our death throes, or our companions. We always travel in groups, unless the Queen says to do otherwise._

"The Queen tells you to do a lot of things, why doesn't she at least help with some of it?" Sara gasped as she found the alien's tail at her throat. The blade at the end split apart very slightly, giving it a serrated edge.

_Never…disrespect…her Majesty… _The Xenomorph withdrew his tail, crawling from the room and into the main area of the house. Sara swallowed, realizing she had hit one of the alien's nerves. _This place is large for only one human. _The alien's voice came to her, even though he had gone up the stairs. _Do you live with others?_

"I live alone!" Sara called, trying to answer from a distance.

_I hear you…no need to yell. _The alien answered. _I can hear you perfectly unless you whisper._

"Wow…that's good hearing." Sara said at a normal volume.

_Evolution chooses what it wills. _

"You know…I still don't know your name."

_I have none. _The alien answered. _There was never any need for a real name, but sometimes we call each other things based on how we look or act. The two of my fellows that I killed were Switchblade and Torment. I would rather not explain how they were named._

"Then what are you called?"

_I…I was named for the blades on my tail and for the poison it can inject at my will. I have five blades that retract into one spike, which you saw, and most others have just a spike. I am called Spine by my fellows, but the Queen does not name us._

"Spine…sounds so cruel." Sara couldn't help but grimace. "And you have venom?"

_I am a creature born to kill with the most carnage and mayhem possible, what did you expect, Helpful Harry? _The creature mocked.

"Great…now it had a sense of humor. What next?"

_I heard that…_ Sara was starting to get a little annoyed with this alien…this 'Spine'…

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_**Come to me, my children…**_

The drones began to gather, hissing and shrieking, their cold black bodies like specks of midnight on the white rock. They gathered around a massive body like them, but this one had a crested head and four arms. It was utterly massive…and it was the Queen.

_**My children…one of your brothers has turned against me, he has broken from the Hive and fled our home. **_There were hisses of anger from around the group that stood on the craggy cliff. _**He is a traitor…he is the one you call Spine, and he is not one of us any longer. He was one of my greatest assets, and now we lack a translator…and our source of eggs. He was to become my King…and now a new Praetorian must be born…if no proper male is available, I will not be able to produce eggs.**_

The crowd of Xenomorphs all agreed, they could do nothing but. _**Find the greatest host…and we will have a new line of Guards, a new line to carry the Hive to victory. My time is shorter than you, my children, would think. I cannot survive here, I was not born for this atmosphere, and soon I will…pass. **_There were cries of anguish. _**A new host for a new Queen must be found…go and do this, and the Hive will live on…**_

_**The Hive **_**must **_**live on…**_

_**We must survive…**_

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"Alie- Spine?" Sara corrected herself, stepping up the stairs slowly. There was no sign of the alien creature. "Spine, Can you hear me?" There was no answer. _Maybe he left? _For some reason Sara hated the thought of the alien leaving, and she sighed heavily, opening the door to her room. There was no sign of the alien…until she looked into the corner of her ceiling. The Xenomorph was sleeping in the corner, hanging onto the ceiling with his claws. Sara smiled; if you took away the fact that it was covered in black spines that were sharp as razors, the silvery teeth, the razor claws, the Swiss army knife tail with venom sacs…it was almost cute.

_Almost…_

Sara shook her head, sitting on the edge of her bed. She didn't know why, but she didn't worry about the alien being in the same room as her. Sara undressed, pulling the sheets over her and turning away from the alien. For some reason, having an alien as a roommate was perfectly fine for her…if she ignored the acid blood and telepathy. She closed her eyes, trying to find rest after this ordeal…

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Spine slipped down from the wall, crawling onto the human's bed, watching her. Her breathing was regular and her pulse slow. Spine hissed softly, lying down at the foot of the bed, curling upon himself to insulate himself from the cold of the November night. Sara's feet slipped under him, and Spine vibrated the bits of carapace on his sides, heating them with friction.

He didn't want his protection to get a cold, did he?

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Sara yawned, blinking in the morning sunlight. It was a Thursday, and she was off all day…though she had taken a sick day the morning before, after her first meeting with the Xenomorph. She glanced up at the corner, but it wasn't there. She looked around the room, but there was no sign of the alien, and the door was closed. She finally looked down, and saw the alien under the sheets at the foot of the bed, growling in his sleep.

Again, it was almost cute…but just _almost_.

Sara slipped out of bed, keeping from waking the sleeping alien. She slipped on her blue house shoes, carefully moving towards the door and heading out into the hall, closing the door behind her again.

When she reached the kitchen she started to make a pot of coffee, thinking about what it would be like if the alien had some. No doubt they had some kind of caffeine on their ships. Sara sat down while the little machine in the corner began doing its holy work, and looked out the window to see that the van that delivered the newspaper had just passed by…

----------------------------------

"SPINE!"

Spine jerked awake, hissing loudly. He bounded out the room and down the stairs, tail held high to defend the human, but instead all he saw was Sara holding a large stack of papers.

"Spine, you better explain this!" The Xenomorph wince, approaching slowly and looking over her shoulder. In bold human text on the front page were the words; '_Teens vanish into caves; clothes found following day_' "Anything you'd like to say?" Sara asked.

_That one wouldn't be my work. _Spine protested. _This must be the work of my Hive; it is customary to dispose of the clothes of the hosts after they are captured._

"I hear you talking about 'hosts', but what do you mean by that?"

_Sara…_ The woman flinched; it was the first time he had used her real name, instead of 'human'. _You will not like what I am going to say, but it is all the truth…_

"I'm waiting…this should be interesting." She set the paper down.

_You see, my kind have a lifecycle that proceeds in a way that requires us to be around other species. The first part…the Queen lays an egg, which is set in a place where it can either be found or easily accessed. If any creature that is not a Xenomorph or one of the Marked, it will open, and our first stage will emerge. This parasite…attaches to the hosts face, suffocating them until they pass out. They then implant an embryo in the chest of the host. _Sara's mouth was agape in horror. _The first stage dies, and the host awakens, suspecting nothing…they are then feeding our second stage. This new form, which closely resembles me, will have to emerge, and it cannot go the way it came. So…it tears open the host's ribcage, exiting through the hole._

_This new stage must eat enough food to grow in size, until it sheds its skin, and then it grows into the third stage…the drone or warrior. This is the last stage for most…but I am different. When I have fed enough, the proper pheromones are introduced, and I have…mated…I will shed my carapace and emerge as either a Praetorian King…or another Queen, having changed gender because another Queen was unavailable. _

"Oh my God…"

_I know what you mean. This is how most hosts react. _Spine hissed.

"You came out of…a human?"

_Yes…_

"What was his name?" Sara asked, almost in a trance. Spine tilted his head in question.

_His name was Arthur Cyrosyl…why? _Sara shook her head. _I know you think that the way we are born is terrible…but it is life for us, we have to do this to survive. This is what really makes us the perfect killers; as more of you are lost, more of us emerge. It is a one-sided battle. Another thing…the emerged alien sometimes keeps traits from its host, other than the DNA already taken, this includes memories and personality traits._

"Spine…what about the children?" Spine put his clawed hand on her shoulder in a human gesture of comfort.

_By this time…they already have been impregnated. There is no way to save them once the embryo is planted. We can only hope they die before they wake. _Spine hissed as he was shoved back from the woman, who pushed the paper away from her, staring at the table vacantly. _I understand…I will leave you alone for a while._

"Wait…" Spine stopped, turning to look at her."Why aren't you like them? Why aren't you a bloodthirsty killer?"

_I am a traitor…and I'll have you know, I ate a homeless man yesterday. I ate him bones and all. Living things are killers…both Xenomorph and human. _Spine left, walking on all fours.

_Why can't they accept the facts of life for what they are? Humans, they never change… _Spine thought to himself, climbing up the stairs.

**Spine came from Arthur Cyrosyl, the one the Theory is named for. Guess who is giving the Cyrosyl Theory lecture? You'll see in the next chapter…**

**Go read Xeno Child by RocknKitty until the next one comes out! She needs the reviews…and so do I!**

**-Tyrammafar the Worldmaker**


	6. A Day Off

**Whoa, weird circles within circles in this chapter! Turns out, you will NOT find out who the speaker is yet…I have decided to hold that information for now.**

**-------------------**

**Chapter 6**

**A Day Off  
**

_Life is not fair. Deal with it. –Arthur Cyrosyl_

_Missing as of September 1986_

**-------------------**

Robert Cyrosyl turned off the engine of his car, opening the door and locking it, heading towards the hotel. It had been nearly a month since he had last seen his brother, Arthur, and he was worried. He had finally decided to come to Roswell himself and see what was going on. The night air was filled with the sounds of cars, a few late night tourists, and some of the children that had left their homes for various mischief in the night.

Roswell was like any other city, but with many more tourists. Robert opened the door to the lobby, looking around for someone, but the room was empty. He set down his bags, deciding to just wait to get a room. He had time; he was unemployed and had nowhere to go; he had been evicted the week before, and he didn't want to ask if anyone else would take him in. So, he would ask his brother, and find out why no one had heard from him in a month…

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Spine sat on the soft chair in the living room, thinking. He had explained to the human how his species grew and reproduced, and like all humans she had been afraid. He could have lied, but then there would be questions later. Spine was not feeling very well; he didn't really like how his lifecycle worked either, but he had no choice in the matter.

He arched his back, the hidden blades along his spine extending. They were about five inches long and came from each vertebra, lying flat when not in use. In fact, Spine was covered in such blades, spikes, and horns, though most of them were retracted. He was a walking weapon, like most warriors, but he had traded sheer size and power for the razor-edged spines that he was named for.

Sara cleared her throat from the doorway, getting his attention. "What are you doing?" Spine hissed, shaking his head.

_I am considering giving myself up to the Queen's mercy…I cannot stay here with a human. _

"Who says that?"

_I do. _Spine stood to his full height, slightly above Sara's. _I am a hunter of mankind; I am a danger to you._

"If you aren't trying to kill me, you aren't a danger. I forgive you for being what you are, you have no choice, but you can at least try to survive."

_You… _Spine hung his head, crouching. _You're right…_

"Are you hungry?"

_I don't have to eat for another day at the least. _

"Well…what do you eat?"

…_humans. _Spine hissed. _I can eat any meat, but as I come from a human I instinctively prefer human meat. I can in fact eat anything, but meat allows me to grow and become stronger. When I have eaten enough to have energy for it, and have mated, I will become one of the greatest of my kind, as the Queen created me to do. But…if I do not return to her, I will become a Queen myself._

"Gender changing in case the last female dies." Sara muttered. "That's a pretty neat trick. I think we can find something for you to eat. What now?"

_What do you mean? _Spine dropped to all fours, crawling up the wall to his customary place just above her.

"I mean, what are we going to do. I have the day off, and you have nothing to do but twiddle your…claws. What are we going to do?"

_I don't know…_

"How about a movie?"

_I do not know what that word means. _Spine admitted. Sara sat down on the sofa, looking for something underneath it. _I can see something under there…it is magnetic, and so I can see it through the cloth. _Sara reached under where he was pointing, pulling out what appeared to be a black box.

"How _do _you see? You don't have eyes."

_I see electrically, mostly. I see what you can, and I can see where things are charged with energy. I can also see in nearly every spectrum and color, so nothing can hide from me._

"Alright…interesting, but it doesn't help me any." Sara looked down at the black box in her hand. "How about this one…Ferris Beuller's Day Off? It came out in June…"

_Fine…_

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"Tommy!" Mikah hissed, trying to move his arms. "_Tommy_!" The other boy jerked awake, looking at him from across the room, but it was too dark to see almost anything. "Where are we?"

"I…I don't know…" The eight-year old replied to his older brother. "Mikah…I'm scared…."

"I know, bro, but we're going to be okay." Mikah whispered. "Don't worry, we'll get out of here and be back home. Now do you see why I don't let you follow me?" Mikah pulled at the strange, hard stuff that restrained him, but it wouldn't give. It covered him everywhere except his face, neck, and his chest. It seemed he was unharmed, but his head hurt horribly.

One thing caught Mikah's eye…an oblong object before him, like a fleshy egg. There was another in front of Tommy, but the top of it was open. Mikah stared down at it, but it seemed to be dead…and then he saw a bit of movement.

"Mikah…where's your friend, Sebastian?"

"I don't know…Sebastian!" Mikah called. "Hey, Bast, are you in here?!"

"Oi, over here." In the darkness Mikah could see his friend cemented to a wall like he was. It seemed that they were all in a large cave of some sort, and Mikah could see the entrance about a hundred feet away.

"Are you alright, Tommy?" Sebastian asked. He had always had soft spot for the little kid.

"My chest hurts…" The child whined.

"We're going to get out of here…Mikah, pull upwards with your arms." Mikah looked to his right arm and yanked upwards, and the hard stuff that secured him broke. "It looked thin from here…come on, bro, you can get us out of here!" Mikah did the same with his other arm, but now he dangled downwards, his legs held too tightly. He grabbed an overhanging ledge and pulled himself upwards, and found that he was naked under the thick stuff that held him.

He dropped heavily to the floor. It seemed that whoever put him there hadn't finished securing him properly. The egg behind him trembled and he moved away from it. He was about ten feet away when the top opened.

"Mikah, hurry up, get me out!" Sebastian yelled. Suddenly Tommy screamed, tears streaming down his face.

"Mikah…my chest hurts! Help me!" The boy coughed up blood and Mikah yelled as his chest began to expand outwards. The egg was fully opened and now a small crab-like thing began to crawl out. Things were happening all around him, and Mikah found his brain in a fog. The crab ran towards him, its tail curling to spring…and it leapt…

Mikah blinked.

The crab landed on his chest, crawling up to his shoulder and leaping again, and now it landed flat on Sebastian's face. The boy screamed, but it was muffled, the creature wrapping its tail around his neck. He looked to his younger brother, and saw with half-closed eyes that he was no longer moving, a little…something…hanging from his bloody chest.

Mikah ran…

He ran from the cave, his feet pounding on the stone. He ran out into the desert night, leaping don the rocky hillside to the flat land beyond, and then he ran even faster, towards the lights of Roswell, far off in the distance…

**I had meant to extend this chapter quite a bit, but I wasn't able to. In the part where they are in the living room talking about watching a movie, I had planned on making the movie Aliens, which came out in July of 1986, and this story takes place in November of the same year. However, this would have made the story far too complicated, and so the Alien franchise does not exist in this Earth.**

**Suggestions are considered, and all reviews are read as soon as I get them. Just keep it up or I may have to drop this story or put it on hold, because people are clamoring for me to return to Eragon fictions. You'll have to see who is at the podium talking about the Cyrosyl Theory in a much later chapter…you will be very surprised.**

**And what is this about the boys? Well…you'll see. I could do a lot with them, including take into account some of the things that Spine has said, but I'll figure it out pretty soon.**

**Sorry for the long AN, but I had to say some things.**

**-Ty**


	7. The Flats

**This one is scary…you have been warned. Do all of you know what a wind-sailer is? If you don't, it's what I call the little karts that have a sail attached, the kind that people ride out on salt-flats. Anyway, there is a flat plain north of Roswell (don't know if there is one in real life) and it is perfect for it. There are some cliffs on the edge of this plain, but they are about ten miles away from the city. There, a little more info before you start.**

**Despite what happens in this chapter…I have nothing against Latinos. Somehow that statement would be funny, but there you go. No harm no foul, eh? Sorry if this is seen as being a little offending…**

**---------------------------------**

**Chapter 7**

**The Flats**

**---------------------------------**

Mikah panted, his hands on his knees, his breath freezing in the cold desert air. The flats were a terrible place to be at night, and worse during the day, if you didn't have transportation. He could have reached Roswell within a half-hour had he been on his wind-sailer, but it was lying in a heap back at the cliffs, nearly three miles behind him.

The moon was full above him, casting so much light on the flats that it seemed to be day on some alien planet, but even so Mikah couldn't see…because of his tears. They say that you can't cry after you reach ten, but here he was, at fifteen and weeping like a newborn. And for good reason.

He had seen his brother die, his best friend get attacked. He had lived to tell the tale, and what a tale it was. No one would believe him, he knew, but he had to do something. A lump formed in his throat, his chest aching.

Mikah felt dizzy suddenly, his head throbbing. He swooned, and hit the ground with a thump and a puff of dust. He laid there, eyes blurred, for what seemed to be an eternity, and then figures filled his vision. He heard yelling in Spanish, and then he was picked up.

Mikah fell unconscious.

----------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------

Mikah opened his eyes to the glare of the desert sun, and heard the sound of an old engine under him. He saw a shadow in front of his face, which resolved into the face of a Latino man with thick brown hair that was in his eyes.

"Hola, you alright, amigo?" The man called over the sound of the engine. Mikah sat up, seeing he was in the bed of a gray pick-up truck, several other men around him in the bed. They were all dressed in work clothes, and Mikah recognized a few of them. These were the men that drove around the flats looking for things that had been abandoned, and they sold it for a fair profit. They were often talked about in Roswell, because many owed their lives to them and their ceaselessly working pickup when their own vehicles failed.

"Where are we?" Mikah muttered.

"We are on the flats, my friend; we are going north to an old river bed to help a poor guy who got stranded." The man said. "Are you alright? Found you half-dead on the flats a mile back, had to make camp for the night to figure out what to do with you. I'm Carlos…"

"Mikah…can we go south?"

"After we get the poor man out of this ditch a mile up we will head south to Roswell anyway. I assume that is where you come from, yes?"

"Yes." Mikah groaned, his head aching horribly.

"Here." Mikah was handed a canteen of water by one of the other men, and he drank gratefully from it, not caring who had drank from it first. A man opened the little window from the cab.

"Hey, Carlos, we're low on gas. We're gonna stop so you can fill 'er up with that can in back!"

"Ci! Hurry up, we don't have time!" He yelled back. The truck began to slow, and Mikah noticed that they were near a large rocky section of the flats, where…the cliffs were.

"Carlos, we should leave…"

"What's wrong?"

"This is where…nevermind; I thought I recognized this place." Mikah sat down in the corner of the bed while the others got out and stretched their legs. The wind was blowing strong across the flats, a perfect day for sailing. Mikah held in his tears for now…he wouldn't be seen crying in front of these men for any reason.

"Miguel?" A man called. "Anyone see Miguel?" A few others looked around. "Miguel!" Everyone turned around quickly as they heard a scream, and then a man vanished from sight, right into the ground. A hole was left behind. "Shit, get in the truck!" The man that had yelled vanished as well, and then a spurt of dark blood came from the hole he left.

Mikah ducked as the men began screaming, running in all directions. One drew a pistol and fired it at the ground, and suddenly a great something leapt from the ground. It was the size of a German shepherd, skeletal and appearing to be the color of sand. It hissed in anger, its bloody claws tearing into the man. Mikah saw none of this, curled up as he was. This creature turned to another man, sinking into the ground again.

When the others focused their attention on this creature, another came from behind a large rock, but it was pitch black and very large. With it came another like it, but with longer claws and teeth, and it was smaller and appeared younger. The large one tore a man in two, the smaller one watching. As the large one began to tear the men apart the small one leapt into the open window of the truck, and blood splattered on the back window.

"Mikah, run!" Carlos yelled, and Mikah got up to see him. He suddenly stopped in his tracks, his bottom half gone where the sand-creature had torn him apart. The tiny, black creature leapt into the bed of the truck, turning to the large one, who gave a slight nod. This small creature turned to Mikah, its black carapace gleaming in the sunlight like obsidian.

"Please…no…don't kill me." Mikah pleaded. The creature raised its tail. "No…please God…don't let it kill me." The creature was about to strike when it stopped, stepping back slightly. It shook its head, its tail dropping to the metal bed, limp. It stared at him with its eyeless sight, still for a moment. It moved closer, its razor-sharp teeth inches from Mikah's face. A voice spoke then, as if from all directions.

_Mi…Mikah?_

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_Wow, that is the most intelligent human I have ever seen. _Spine muttered, watching the credits scroll by. It had been his eighth time watching the movie, and he still wasn't tied of it. _Besides you of course, Sara. _He corrected, backflipping off the couch and running into the kitchen on all fours. _What's that smell?_

"I don't smell anything." Sara said over her morning cup of coffee, rubbing her eyes. Due to several references in the movie, she had ended up having to explain how human reproduction worked, and that had taken a lot out of her. She didn't really see the need, since Spine was an alien, but that was what happened.

_It's gone now…I thought I smelled something familiar. _Spine stood, looking at the scratches in the ceiling. _Sorry about your ceiling…and your walls, your floor, you table, the rug…_

"You're an alien. That's how you get around. I think I can forgive an extra-terrestrial for walking on my ceiling every once in a while." Sara downed the last of her coffee, standing up. "I have to go to work, alien roommate or not."

_Work? _Spine queried, tilting his head. _Where?_

"I work at this place on the southern side of Roswell; it's a sort of restaurant. I guess you would call me a waitress."

_Sucks to be you._

"I know." She headed upstairs. "I hope you won't do anything loud or bloody while I'm gone."

_I'll be in here, don't worry. I can defend this home easily if the others attack, which I doubt; we are too close to the city. The most I will do is throw a party…_

"No eating any more homeless people, don't burn the neighbor's cat with acid, that sort of thing."

_Nothing of the sort._

Sara came down the stairs, dressed in a white button-down shirt and black pants. "Take care, Spine…I don't want anything to happen to you."

_Why get all emotional all of a sudden? _Spine asked.

"Nothing…I'm just worrying about leaving an alien home alone in my house for four hours."

_If you say so. I'll be alright…what are you, my mother?_

Sara left then, and Spine waited for her to get in her car before dropping to the floor, sniffing the air.

_What is that smell?! _He tried following it, but it seemed to be all over the house. _I think I've smelled it before…whenever I was around the Queen. Could she have been here?! No…that's absurd. She couldn't have. _Spine walked up the stairs, trying to find the source of the scent he smelled, but he could not. He couldn't identify the smell when there was so much else going around, and it wasn't strong enough that his brain would translate it…but it was there.

_This will have to wait. Time to watch the movie again. It never gets old._


	8. A Shadow of his Former Self

**From this point onwards, this story will become more…mature. Yes, it's getting to the point where we must separate the men from the boys. This story isn't rated T just because it has some language and violence, it is also for mature themes. I would have rated it M, but one of my readers said that it was more of a T story.**

**If you are under the age of thirteen…you shouldn't read on. This is going to get to be very strange. You have been warned, and you will not be warned again.**

**I expect people to say, 'WEEEE!' after this chapter. No reason why.**

**---------------------------**

**Chapter 8**

**A Shadow of his Former Self**

**---------------------------**

_Mi…Mikah? _A voice said from all directions at once, and Mikah flinched; the alien was speaking to him. _Mikah? Is that you?!_

"Who are you?" Mikah asked, pushing himself further into the corner.

_Don't you remember us? Of course you don't…this one isn't him any more. It's us…Tom._

"T…Tommy?"

_Well…not exactly. Technically this one is a Xenomorph, but this one _is _your brother as well. _The alien said, sitting down on its haunches. _We have all the memories and personality of your brother…he was our host._

"Tommy?"

_Like we said…not really. This one is still a Xenomorph…but all your brother's traits were passed on to us. _The other two creatures came to them, the sand creature crawling into the bed and the other watching, licking blood from its claws and arms.

"What are you going to do with me?" Mikah asked, the creature's watching him closely.

_We don't know…the Queen will decide. _The creature paused. _You will come with us to another cave…We will watch you for now, until the new Queen emerges. What the Queen says goes…follow us. _Mikah found himself hauled to his feet by the creatures, and then he was following them, his mind in a haze. The Spanish men were dead all around him, their blood polled on the white ground. His best friend and his brother had died before his eyes…and now a creature that had all the memories of his brother had come, and managed to spare his life.

_Don't slow down…the Queen wants you in a secure location by nightfall…no later. _The creature said, the other two vanishing into the rocky terrain. _We can carry you if you want._

"No…no, I'm fine. What are you?" The creature took a moment before answering.

_The Queen says to tell you nothing more than we are Xenomorph…that is what the humans call us. We do not know why she wants you safe…but she seems determined to have it so. _Mikah stumbled along with the creature, climbing higher, his mind numb from current events.

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Sara had come home a few hours later, seeming exhausted. She had gone instantly upstairs to take a shower, and was now in bed, almost asleep. She was just closing her eyes when the door of her room creaked open, the alien coming in on all fours.

"Spine, what is it?"

_I… _The creature jumped up onto her bed, sitting like a cat. _I came to sleep with you. _

"Why?"

_It's cold down there and I watched the Tremors movie._

Sara nearly laughed. "You are much scarier than those worms, you know."

_The question remains._

"…fine, but don't kick me in your sleep…or stab me, or eat me alive." Instead of lying down at the foot of the bed like she expected, Spine threw himself out right beside her. As always, his carapace was strangely warm, as if it was stone that had been warmed by a fire. His spines were flat against him, and so his hide was very smooth, with no sharp edges. "I didn't mean that."

_Oh…_

"It's fine…just don't scare me like that." Sara yawned, turning over. Spine was already snoring, and Sara herself was soon drifting to sleep.

-------------------------------------------------

Spine waited until Sara was completely asleep, and then he turned to face her, putting his head next to her neck. He inhaled deeply, and caught the scent. _So it was being produced by Sara. Odd how she is producing a smell that the Queen gives off when she is near me…I think I can identify it. _His brain was working on trying to find out what this pheromone was. _Strange…_

_Uh oh. _Spine muttered as he worked it out. _This isn't good…or possible…_

---------------------------------------------------------------

Mikah was in the back of a depression in the side of the cliffs, where he would be 'safe'. There was no sign of the creature, but he didn't dare try and leave. What had it meant by 'host'? Why did it act and sound like his brother? Tommy was dead, he knew that for certain; there was only one real conclusion he could come to…this creature had absorbed his brother's memories.

"Hello?" Mikah called. "Um…animal….thing? Are you still here?"

_We are always here until the Queen wishes us to leave. _A voice said. _You are afraid…we can smell it. You shouldn't be, you are safe here._

"What are you?"

_We have already told you. We are Xenomorph; that is what you humans call us. We are alien to this planet…but it can support us. More than a billion humans, all capable of being a host…except for a handful. One of them rejected the embryo, and it perished. That human was Sebastian._

"He's alive?"

_No, we cut his throat after we found he couldn't be made a host. _The alien said with little emotion. _Are you hungry? Thirsty?_

"No…" Mikah curled up in the chill night air, trying to sleep at the very least. If he wanted to get away, he would have to be well-rested. He shivered, and he saw the alien move from where it stood on the ceiling.

_You are cold. Humans cannot survive in this sort of weather for long…the Queen wants you to remain safe. _The alien crawled across the ceiling like it was stalking prey, going down the wall and ending up at Mikah's side, leaning against him. _You must be kept warm if you are to survive._

"Get off me!" Mikah cried, shifting away from the creature. It hissed, flicking its tail.

_Do you want to freeze? You have no clothes at all, you are in the middle of the New Mexico desert in November, and you expect me to think that you are not cold? Are you that distraught by the death of your companions that you won't listen to my reason? I can barely stand human stubbornness- _

"...you said I..." Mikah muttered.

_What?_

"That was the first time you addressed yourself as something other than 'us' or 'we'."

_Does it matter? _The alien hissed. _You must survive…_

"Why?"

_The Queen wills it. _The alien hissed, and the conversation about it seemed to be at an end.

"I want to die…"

_We don't care what you want; you are a prisoner for the time being. Until the Queen wishes for us to do something else with you, you will remain here._

_-----------------------------------------------------_

"Alright, today I'll have work, and then tomorrow I'm off." Sara said, looking around the kitchen for her purse. "Where is it?"

_You mean this? _Spine held it in front of her by his tail, pulling it up when she reached for it. _One second…we have to talk._

"Do we have to; I'm going to be late."

_Now… _Spine hissed. Sara crossed her arms, tapping her foot. _I have been wondering…you have become quite a good friend to me in the three or fours days I've been here, right? You trust me?_

"Yes, mostly not to slit my throat though. I don't know about the neighbor's cat, though…he hasn't been around for a while. Can I go now?"

_If you wish…we will have to talk when you return. This is a matter of life our death…_your _life or death._

"Is that a threat?"

_No, it is a warning. Don't go into places with few people today…stay in the crowds. _Spine dropped the purse into her arms, crawling along the ceiling.

"Stop being so protective. Don't eat anything I wouldn't while I'm gone." Sara left, the door closing a little harder than it should have. Spine waited for a few minute before climbing up the stairs via the ceiling, coming up to the window at the end of the hall and looking outside, upside-down.

_Sara…you have no idea how much trouble you are in. _Spine hissed to himself. _Don't do anything stupid…please…_

------------------------------------------------------------------

"Excuse me, miss." A man said, and Sara turned around, leaning on the table to talk to him. Her feet hurt horribly, but they would hopefully go numb in an hour. "I wanted to ask you…have you seen my brother around town lately?"

"I don't know anything around town, I live nearly a mile away from here."

"Oh…sorry to bother you."

"Hold on…what's this about your brother?"

"He went missing about a month ago, and I'm trying to find out where he went." The man said, taking a gulp of the Coke in front of him. "His name is Arthur; ring any bells?"

"Not really…last name?"

"Cyrosyl." Sara stepped back a little, blinking. "You know him?"

"I think I've heard that name." Sra said. _That was the name of Spine's host! If this is Arthur's brother…this must be Robert. _"I don't know him personally, but I've heard that name before. Nothing else I can do to help you…sorry."

"Thanks anyway." Sara nearly ran away, looking over her shoulder.

--------------------------------------

"Excuse me." Robert asked another passing waitress, who smiled and sat down opposite of him. "Could you tell me how to get to that young lady's house?" He pointed at the waitress he had spoken to moments before.

"Sara? Why, you have your eye on her?"

"In a manner of speaking."

"Alright, I'll even write it down…by the way, she likes chocolate."

"I see…I'll keep that in mind."

**Woot! Next chapter should be up soon enough. Go see about RocknKitty's new chapter, it's the bomb. I think the weird stuff in her story is going to start soon, so brace yourself; weirdness all around!**


	9. Reaching Out

**This chapter is a little touching, for some. It seems to me that I should have introduced some things a long time ago, but now that everyone is settled in I can shake the foundations a bit. Time for mayhem, so get your hardhats and C4, we're going to blow the world's mind!**

-------------------

**Chapter 9**

**Reaching out**

**-------------------**

Spine stared at the carving on the table, trying to makes sense out of what he had created. He had been messing around until the human came at the time, and he wasn't really sure what the carving was of. It was a triangle, with four black dots above it, and a circle around the top of the triangle. While he stared, his eyes suddenly went dark, and then light reappeared.

_Spine stood in a desert, the heat glaring down on him with such force it felt like he was being roasted alive. The air was thin and near impossible to breathe, so he stopped doing so. The sun began to sink behind a mountain, and as he watched four black dots appeared as shadows on the sun, growing larger…coming closer._

Spine blinked. _By the Queen's egg…what happened? _He looked around at the kitchen, but there was no sign of what had just occurred. He seemed to have been viewing a memory that his host once had…but where had he been? He searched through his mind, trying to piece this together, but he couldn't find anything other than his current sight of the mountain and the sun. He looked back down at the carving, and realized what it was.

It was a drawing of the mountain, the sun just ducking behind it as it set, and the fours dots…he didn't know. He knew that they were objects approaching him in the desert, but he didn't know exactly what they were. Spine hissed softly to himself, turning from the carving.

A car door slammed in front of the house, and Spine looked at the front door, sending out a pulse of electric current in the air. The pulse was amplified by the nervous system of a living being, returning to him with detailed information. This was how Xenomorphs identified who was a suitable host before ever showing themselves. The image resolved into Sara, and little bits of information had been sent back from her nervous system. She was tired, but able to stay up for a few more hours, her feet were numb, her eyes were irritated by smoke, and she seemed fairly excited about coming home. Who could blame her?

The door opened and Spine was there to grab her purse from her, using his tail to carry it. _You are tired._

"You have no idea." She muttered, wiping her brow.

_Actually, I know perfectly how tired you are. You've burned three-thousand calories today in the past four hours. _

"Nice to know." Sara trudged past him, flinging herself on the sofa while Spine dropped the leather bag on the table, following her. "What happened while I was gone?"

_Nothing much; I ate a mouse, a bird flew away from me, I had a spiritual vision…you know, a normal day._

"Since when are you sarcastic?"

_Since I absorbed the trait from my host. _Sara twitched.

"That reminds me…I met someone at work today. Robert Cyrosyl." Spine stiffened in alarm. "You know him?"

_My host's brother, why? Is he here for a reason?_

"His brother went missing about a month ago…"

_When I was born._

"…and he is here to find out what happened." Sara sighed, turning over to lay face-first in the armrest cushion. "I think that this could be bad for you."

_Very. If he was to find that I technically killed his brother, he would nuke this city just to kill me. That is what I 'remember' about him, at least. He has a passion for revenge that even her Majesty would stand in awe of. _Spine hissed, snapping his tail in the air like a whip. _If he comes here…I will be forced to kill him._

"What, why?!"

_Because he could endanger not only my life, but yours as well. He won't be missed. Other than him there are no other living relatives. Sara…nevermind._

"What?"

_I was planning on speaking to you today…but I'm not so sure I want to now. It isn't important. _Spine sat on his haunches on the sofa, and Sara sat up, putting an arm reluctantly around his shoulders.

"What's wrong, ET?"

_I am worried about you. About me being here. My presence could bring about changes in the universe that would have terrible consequences. _Spine growled, and then stiffened when Sara leaned against him. _Sara, what are you doing?_

"You need a hug."

_I…see…are you sure you're not using this as an excuse to touch me? _Sara chuckled but didn't answer. _I worry about you sometimes. You…you don't seem to mind touching me, despite my appearance._

"It's like with snakes; they look slimy, but their actually very dry and smooth. You look like you'd be slimy, and cold as well, but you're like the side of a clothes-dryer."

_Wow, great simile._

"Thanks." Sara sighed, closing her eyes. "I'm so exhausted. I had to stack crates in the back today, and the forklift had broken down so we couldn't use it. We ended up having to lift them manually."

_That is bad for your back. _Spine said. _Sara…you are a very strange human, you know that? You were not nearly as afraid of me as I thought you would be, and now you will hold conversation with me and even _touch _me voluntarily. I think you might have gotten used to me…Sara? Sara? _The woman didn't answer; she was asleep while leaning against him. _Great…this is just wonderful. Now I have a human drooling on me, how could this get any worse? _Sara put her other arm around him and leaned against him harder, shoving him over. _I had to ask…_

--------------------------------------------------------------------

"Alien?" Mikah hissed, looking at the sleeping creature next to him. "Creature…hey, Tommy!" The alien bolted awake, looking around in alarm. "Hey…Tommy…why are you keeping me captive like this?"

_The Queen wills it…you called us…Tommy? Well, it was our host's name…so we suppose it would be alright for you to use. _The alien stood up. _What is it that you need?_

"Please…think about this, why would your Queen want to keep me captive? What does she really want with me?"

_We…we do not know. She decides what we will do, and we do it, no matter what it is. _The alien began to pace back and forth around the small alcove, hissing every now and then. _You miss your brother?_

"Of course I do!" Mikah said angrily, making the alien twitch. "He was everything to me…he was annoying sometimes, but I loved him…he was a good kid, my inspiration to do things. I wanted to be an example for him, to make him want to grow up to be like me…"

…_really?_

"Yeah…"

…_that's…that's nice of you to say. _'Tommy' whined a little. _Why _does _the queen want you? Why does she want you to remain alive? Does she want to have you impregnated? We don't smell any of our scent on you, so you can't have one inside…why you, of all humans?_

"What do you mean?"

_Her Majesty has been…a little strange lately. She has been sleeping less, having nightmares more, and she sometimes falls unconscious during the day. She keeps making strange movements with her arms and tail, as if she had a twitch, but she doesn't. There are rumors…_The alien paused. _There are rumors that she is going insane…_

"Wow…"

_I know…_

"You…you just said 'I' again."

_We did?_

"Yeah." Mikah stared at the alien for a little while, trying to think. "Are you alright?"

_Her Majesty is distressed…there is something wrong. She is…_The alien shivered. _She is dying…slowly, but she is, and there is nothing we can do. As she goes, she seems to be losing her grip on reality. It affects us all. If a new Queen isn't born soon, there will be no Hive, and we will be forced to find a new way to survive. _

"That's terrible."

_Indeed. _The alien paused for a moment, deep in thought. _Come on, Mikah._

"What?" Mikah stood up, looking around. "Where are we going?"

_We are going for a little walk…you need exercise if you are to survive…right?_

"Not really-"

_Right? _The alien said more insistently.

"…right." Mikah finally got it. He followed it out into the night, looking up at the stars that lit up the earth as if it were the moon out. "Whoa…never seen so many stars."

_The city blocks them at night…it is its own form of pollution. _The alien led him down the slope of the cliff, to the flats, where the truck still sat out on the dirt. It was now empty of blood, the ground around it pristine. The aliens had made it look like it had been abandoned. _We are hoping that the truck will lure more humans in…for hosts._

"Oh…" The alien hissed loudly, showing his teeth.

_Go._

"Huh?"

_Go, the truck is open; the keys are in the ignition. _The alien turned around, looking up at a bird that sat atop a rocky spire. _There is enough gas to get you to the human city of Roswell._

"What are you talking abo-"

_You can drive, can't you?_

"Yeah, but-"

_Don't hit any desert tortoises; they can remove a tire when you do. _The alien didn't look at him this entire time. _Move it._

Mikah didn't waste another second, running towards the car and diving into it. As the alien had said, the keys were in the ignition. There was no sign of the battle before, and he started the engine, shifting into gear as his dad had taught him. The old pickup leapt forward and he turned the wheel, kicking up dust and rock, making south for the faint flickers of light that was Roswell. The voice faded in his head as he hit eighty, the desert blazing past him.

_Don't forget, Mikah…Tommy isn't dead…just moved to a new location…_

"I won't." Mikah pushed the gas a little more, the old pick-up blazing off into the salt-flats of New Mexico, dust leaping up behind it. "I'll find a way to get you back, Tommy…I swear it..."


	10. The Sand Viper

**A reviewer mentioned sources, so I'm now listing them. Aliens movies, Predator movies, AvP movie, and AvP 2 PC game. There are no other sources for information. Anyways, the newest thing here is that there will now be some action!**

**Are police car windows bulletproof in 1987? No? Good, that makes this easier.**

**WOOT!**

**---------------------**

**Chapter 10**

**The Sand-Viper**

**---------------------**

**The Desert War – Planet LF-9916**

_The shifting sands_

_The burning lands_

_The city built_

_With our mighty hands_

_-_

_The empire great_

_The City State_

_All falls in ruin_

_To Death's Fate_

_-_

_The black monsters outside our door_

_The creatures that began this war_

_The evil things that seek our blood_

_The beings that eat and come for more_

_-_

_Our time has come_

_The day is done_

_With the setting_

_Of the scorching sun_

_-_

_All is now lost_

_With terrible a cost_

_The slayers come_

_To take their host…_

_Approximately three hundred years ago, Species 86 was exterminated by the Xenomorphs. No survivors, one specimen taken by the Xenomorphs. Specimen yields new strain…designated the Sand-Viper._

_-Weyland-Yutani official report 8845_

--------------------------------------------------------

_Sands tell of vehicle that pass here. _Viper hissed, his tan body melding into the sand that was below him. The ground shifted, the creature itself a part of it. _Headed south…no stopping or slowing._

_Viper…track human vehicle…bring alive. _Scythe said, swinging the great blades that gave him his name. The black beast was nearly ten feet tall, a warrior created from a species now extinct. He was the only one of his strain to survive the trip through the Rift and make it here.

_As the Queen wills… _The sand creature melted into shape a second later, running flat-out along the tire tracks. He was fast, very fast, and made the best tracker in this desert environment, because of his ability to become a part of the ground, laying traps. He ran on all fours, long snout snapping in anticipation. Unlike other Xenomorphs, Viper had eyes, tiny bots of yellow light on each side of his domed head, allowing him to see in absolute darkness.

_Now for the traitor…it will be punished…Queen wills it. _Scythe turned around, heading back towards the Hive.

------------------------------------------------------

Spine woke slowly, his senses coming around to provide him with information, but the information he received was not to his liking. The only good news he had at that moment was that his vocal systems were almost mature enough to be functional. He would still use telepathy, but this would make him able to speak to certain humans that were incapable of telepathy.

The rest was bad news, at least to him. One, it was the next day. While this would seem like a grand thing for a human, Xenomorphs like himself were nocturnal, and this was just making him feel worse. Two, he had not eaten for some time, and his stomach ached. Three, Sara was on top of him. He was pinned to the sofa's cushions by the woman, who was lying on him as if he were a strangely shaped lawn-chair. He couldn't feel his left arm, because it had fallen asleep.

Spine growled, trying to find a way to slip away without waking her, and finally had to resort to subliminal commands via telepathy.The woman grunted and rolled to the left, allowing him to roll away to the right without disturbing her. _They are so suggestible while asleep or drunk. _He mused, standing up on two legs. Light streamed in through a window high up on the vaulted ceiling, landing right on him and making his carapace tingle.

If he remembered correctly, Sara was off of work today. Spine sniffed the air, catching something new; he was now giving off a pheromone that he couldn't identify, and his brain couldn't translate it either. His first thought was that he was giving off a distress signal, but that wouldn't make sense, he wasn't in a state of panic. Maybe he was beginning the transformation into a Praetorian anyway? It didn't seem possible, but the pheromones were nothing he had sensed before.

Spine hadn't eaten since the homeless man the first day he had been here, and he was starving. Any thought of eating Sara made him physically sick, he couldn't have done so if he really wanted to. He looked into the kitchen, but discounted the idea of eating any human food. He would have to find something else to eat…

------------------------------------

Sara opened her eyes, feeling cold. She had been having such a good dream…it was gone, she couldn't remember it. She looked around and sat up, trying to locate her alien roommate, but it seemed he wasn't downstairs.

"Spine?" She called, but there was no answer. "He's probably sleeping in some corner of the ceiling right now." She groaned and stood up, arching her back until it popped. "Ow!" She clutched her spine, grimacing and straightening up slowly. Her watch beeped and she glanced at it. Ten o' clock. Sara shook her head at her laziness.

"Spine, where are you?" She called again, but there was no answer; neither telepathic or audible. A faint clicking noise caught her attention and she followed it, walking into the kitchen. There was a shadow by the closed kitchen window, and she moved towards it, preparing to open it…when the alien looked in.

It was taller than a human, but crouching down to peer through the half-open blinds. It wore a metal mask and dreadlocks extended from its skull. It seemed to not see her, looking at the window for a moment. It waved its clawed hand, tilting its head to the side. It made an odd clicking noise, then gave a strange chuckle. It seemed amused about something. Sara put her head to the window, but the alien didn't react. It couldn't see her for some reason. It was waving at its reflection in the window, and couldn't see past the heavy tint.

Sara gasped as the alien suddenly vanished, a crackle of electricity accompanying its disappearance. Sara stood there for a moment longer, wondering what this new alien was, when she heard another window open, and a faint hiss that she recognized as Spine.

"Spine!" Sara called, and within the next second the alien was above her on the ceiling…a trail of bloody prints behind it. "Oh my God…"

_What? _Spine looked behind him. _Oh...could you hand me a towel? _Sara looked around, grabbing the damp dishtowel from the sink and tossing it to the Xenomorph, who began scrubbing the blood off the ceiling.

"What did you…kill?"

_A small mammal…very lean meat, not very good. It will keep me going, however. _Spine tossed the towel back down to Sara, who didn't try to catch it. _You have adrenaline in your system._

"There was a new alien looking at its reflection in my window." Sara said. "Any friends you would like to tell me about that wears a mask and has dreadlocks?"

_Mask? Dreadlocks? _Spine hissed, twisting around to drop to the floor. _What color was it?! Did it have wristguards?!_

"Tan and yes." Spine pressed his head against the glass window, hissing violently. He pulled the window open an inch, taking a deep breath, then yelped and closed it.

_Yautja! _

"Yegga ma what?"

_Yautja…the predator race. _Spine explained, shivering. _They hunt both humans and Xenomorphs for sport and glory. They are intelligent, well equipped, and bloodthirsty. This is a young one by the smell of things. It will not enter any human buildings until it has the entire city mapped out in its mask computer. It will not kill until it finds a worthy target. _

"So it's going to be hunting humans?! How good of a hunter is it?"

_Unless someone kills it very soon…this planet could be lifeless by the end of the month. Thankfully it will only kill a certain amount before leaving. If it finds any Xenomorphs…it will stay until we are all dead. _

"And it actually looked friendly." Sara sighed, sitting down. "So what do we do?"

_We stay inside and don't open any windows. They see heat, so you are at risk. I, however, am invisible unless it is looking specifically for Xenomorphs._

"But you are warmer than I am." Sara said, confused.

_That is…not normal. _Spine was silent for a moment and then shook his head. _We will be safe for some time; it will not come in here looking for us unless it finds no other suitable target. _

"Great, now we're being hunted."

----------------------------------------------------------

Mikah tapped the gas pedal in vain, the engine sputtering and finally dying, the truck drifting to a crawl and finally to a halt. He could see the buildings of Roswell to the south, but it was nearly a mile. He would not be able to get there by sitting around. Mikah grabbed the handle of the door, pulling on it. Nothing happened. He tried again, but the door wouldn't open. He reached over to the other one, yanking on it, but it was jammed as well.

'Tommy' had set a trap.

The truck rocked as something hit it. Mikah turned around to see the jaws of an alien snapping an inch from his face, just outside the rear window. He jerked, recognizing the color and shape of the sand creature, which paced in the back of the truck, like a wolf circling its prey.

_Come out…will not harm…Queen wants human. _The alien said in its thick voice, not able to make a complete sentence.

"I think I'll stay right here." Mikah said. The alien roared in anger, slamming into the glass window, but it disintegrated into a pile of sand, reforming a second later. After ten more charges, the glass showed no signs of breaking. Mikah spun around as he heard a siren, and gasped when he saw a police car coming towards him. The truck rocked as the alien leapt away, melting into the ground.

A tall officer stepped out of the car, talking on his radio. Mikah rolled down the window a little bit and put his mouth to the tiny gap. "Run away, it's a trap!" He yelled. The officer moved slowly towards him, radio set on his dash. "IT'S A TRAP!" Mikah screamed. The officer paused, looking around, then drew his sidearm, bending his knees and moving sideways. He kept his eyes on the rear of the truck…when they should have been on the ground.

The alien leapt from the ground, the cop ducking with incredible speed. The alien melted back into the ground and the officer ran towards the truck, jumping onto the hood and then to the roof, waving his pistol about.

"What the hell is that thing?!" He yelled.

"It's an alien! You can't kill it, it's made of sand. Get in your car and shut the windows, it can't break them!" The officer seemed a bit confused, but after having seen the creature himself he wasn't going to argue with one who knew what it was. He stepped into the bed of the truck, putting his back to the window and raising his pistol.

"I'm going to break the glass. Duck down and cover you-"

"Don't!" Mikah yelled. "It wants me! Get back to your car and bring as many people as you can!" The officer hesitated for a moment, then jumped off the side of the truck and began sprinting towards his car. The ground behind him swirled, and he reached the door as the creature leapt. There were two loud bangs. One was the door shutting; the second was the alien slamming into the side of the car and breaking up into sand, reforming a second later.

Mikah watched as the alien jumped on top of the hood of the black and white car, staring into the window at the terrified officer. The man was talking on his radio and screamed, bringing up his pistol and firing, right through the glass and into the alien. The bullet went right through, the hole it made sealing closed a moment later.

The officer had made a fatal mistake…he had given the alien a way in. The creature pressed against the glass, filtering into the hole and into the car. Mikah saw it reform in the passenger seat next to the cop, who grabbed the shotgun from its holster and aimed it right at the alien's head. The alien exploded into bits of rock, the window on the passenger side breaking.

The alien reappeared, and now the cop realized that weapons wouldn't work. He screamed, raising his arms as the alien leapt at him, and Mikah saw nothing else as the windshield was blocked by blood and bits of flesh.

"Damn cops, they can't do a thing right." Mikah muttered, rolling up his window as the alien jumped from the broken passenger window, melting into the ground without a trace. All that anyone would see was a truck and a cop car, half destroyed and filled with bits of dead law-enforcer. "That alien set a trap for me…it _wanted _me to take this truck so that I would get recaptured…"

**Well, was that good? No one considers that other races might have been taken by the Xenomorphs at some point…**


	11. Ground Rules

**This chapter is where the story begins to really get complicated. Taking notes is recommended! I have to speed things up slightly to get this story done so I can work on my other unfinished works.**

**---------------------**

**Chapter 11**

**Ground Rules**

**---------------------**

_Things change very fast, and before you know it you might find yourself lost in a war you don't know who's fighting what in. _

_At first my grandfather didn't make much sense when he said these words; but ever since Spine came I've known that those words have some (senile) truth in them. How I wish that my life was back to normal…how I wish I had never gotten up to go and investigate a strange noise…_

_Fate has a way of making things interlock like a huge puzzle; it doesn't make sense until all the pieces come together. I like to think back to one of those days…back when I first met Spine. It was strange then, I thought that he was just an alien at the time, but it didn't take me long to figure out otherwise._

_He was much more than just an alien._

_-Sara H. Jefferson_

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"Spine, what are you doing?" Sara asked, grimacing. Spine looked up…down…at her from the ceiling, where he was tapping on the surface he held onto.

_There is something inside this area of the ceiling. It is a small rodent, and I think it has been chewing through some wires in this house. _Spine replied, returning to his tapping.

"Well…if you kill it, don't leave a mess for me to clean up."

_I will lick my plate…_

"You mean that literally, don't you?"

…_yes. _Sara sighed, turning from him to walk into the kitchen. Soon, however, Spine followed her through the door, still in his usual position just above her on the ceiling.

"You never cease to amaze me. How come you don't find anything about humans strange?"

_Because I am forty-five percent human instead of the usual twenty. _Spine hissed.

"So what are we going to do now? Watch a movie? Sit around? Talk?"

_I think that we should do something that won't make too much noise. _Spine said, dropping from the ceiling and to all fours.

---------------------------------------------------------------

"Are you crazy, Johnson?"

"Nah, man, I told you I saw a fricken alien!"

"This is Roswell; there are aliens all over the place!"

"No, I saw this one; it had hair and a freaking rifle!"

"You dumbass; you must have seen Philip on the roof."

"Philip? Oh yeah…the hitman we hired."

"Dumbass…"

Frizak chuckled to himself; these humans were fun to play with. They would often overreact at the sight of a Yautja, and this made them all the easier to kill. And it was a great way to entertain oneself. Frizak crawled down the side of the building, using the gaps in the bricks to reach the body below. He had killed the human on the roof…it had been in his way…and now he had to decide what to do with it.

A siren wailed in the distance as Frizak picked up the dead, black-clothed human in one hand, but he dropped it when the siren grew close at an alarming speed. Frizak tapped his wrist computer and vanished into the night.

A black and white human vehicle came down the alley, the lights on the top shutting off. It slowed to a stop, a black-clothed human stepping out of the car. He took one look at the body on the ground and jumped back in his car, grabbing his radio with panic in his eyes.

Frizak left then; he didn't want to see any more. He had made a mistake, and been discovered. At least he still had the element of surprise…the humans didn't know who or _what _he was.

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"…there is still no sign of the three children that vanished three days ago, and nothing as to their whereabouts is known." The reporter said on the television. "They are eight-year old Thomas Paulson, fifteen-year old Mikah Paulson, and fourteen-year old Sebastian Hooper. They were last seen three days ago heading north on a blue wind-sailer, and have not been seen since.

"What do you think is happening to them right now?" Sara asked, turning down the volume.

_All three are dead, and three new drones or warriors are now part of the Hive. _Spine hissed. _They are dead, there is no doubt. Their remains will have been destroyed. _The Xenomorph growled and twisted around, hooking his tail on the ceiling light and flipping upwards to the ceiling.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Sara looked up, following his form from the room.

_I'm going to find something to eat._

Suddenly the doorbell rang, and Spine changed direction, running to the area just above the door, his tail positioned to strike if someone entered. Sara sighed, following him to the door and opening it. Her neighbor, a bald man in his mid-forties, stood on step.

"Sorry to bother you Sara, but have you seen my cat anywhere? I haven't seen him for a few hours, and he usually shows up right about now for canned food…" Sara glanced upwards.

_What does he look like? I might have seen it. _Spine said privately to her.

"Your cat's black with white stripes, right?"

"Yes, and he doesn't wear a collar."

…_oops._

_Spine…did you eat him? _Sara thought, hoping that the alien was reading her mind at the time.

_If I said yes, hypothetically, what would you do to me?_

"No, I haven't seen him." Sara said, smiling slightly. "Sorry, I'll tell you if I do."

"Thanks, sorry for bothering you." Sara closed the door, suddenly jumping up and grabbing Spine by the tail, yanking him off the ceiling on her way down.

"Alright, Xeno, we're going to lay down some rules."

_Shit…_

"One…no eating things unless I say you can. That includes pets, not just humans."

_I'm fine with that. _Spine yanked his tail from her grasp. _Next._

"No leaving blood in places that people will see…in fact, no blood at all."

_I will lick my fingers._

"Three…no spraying acid on anyone or anything, no slitting throats, and no, and I mean _no_, laying eggs in the attic. I don't want a bunch of facehuggers running around."

_One, I can't lay eggs; I am male. _Spine interrupted. _Two, I haven't slit any throats as of yet…and three…how did you know I can spray acid?_

"Wild guess."

_Well, you're right. Fine, I accept, but I think that we should be able to _bend _the rules in the case of the mailman…_

"No."

_Damn…well, there goes my plans for Friday._

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Mikah opened his eyes to the setting of the sun, which blinded him by coming into through the passenger window. He had found a pair of blue-jeans that fit reasonably well in the floorboards, and he was wearing them now. The sand creature was asleep on top of the truck from what he had seen, but he didn't dare try to escape for fear of waking it. The doors were still jammed, but the ventilation still worked, and so it didn't get nearly as unbearable inside the truck as it would have. Still, he was beginning to get a little stir crazy.

The truck rocked as the alien jumped onto the hood, yawning mightily and displaying blood-stained teeth. _Human…come…we waste time. Daylight fading…night animals dangerous to our kind. And yours too…they can break glass…we would not harm human…predators will._

"I'm staying right here, thanks. I think that whatever your Queen has in mind I don't want any part in it." Mikah said calmly, lying back down. The alien sighed.

_We will make you then…_

"How? You can't get in here, and even if you could there's no way for me to get out."

_Drones will return from city soon…they will get you out. Farewell, human, we tire of this game and the Queen wishes to see us. _The alien hopped off the hood, vanishing into the ground. Mikah didn't open the door, knowing it was a terribly set trap. Anyone with half a brain would stay in the truck.

The sun sank lower in the sky, and Mikah waited for rescue, doing his best to ignore the vultures that attacked the squad car no more than thirty feet away. As the sun finally vanished behind the flat horizon, Mikah heard the screeches. He sat up in the driver's seat, looking towards the city, and saw four black forms moving towards him. There were four small aliens, each one with a distinct difference. One had a very large head and massive teeth that protruded from it jaw more than the others. One had a left foreleg missing, and hobbled on three feet. One was very small and grey, and it seemed to be the leader, and the last was fairly average.

The four aliens swarmed the truck, hissing and snapping their teeth, Grey jumping on the roof. It gave a snarl to Tripod, who leapt to the hood and growled at Mikah, but he didn't react. Long-tooth used his massive head to try and ram the truck from the front, and only succeeded in crushing the radiator. Really, this was nothing more than a nuisance.

Then the normal-looking alien leapt into the bed of the truck, smashing the window with its tail. The glass shattered and rained down on Mikah, and the creature wrapped its claws around him from behind. As Mikah pulled himself away the claws cut into him, leaving bloody scrapes on his bare chest. The alien was suddenly set upon by its fellows, who hissed and beat it with their tails and closed fists. Mikah took his chance.

He crawled out of the rear window, running towards the squad car that was in front of the truck, opening the door and jumping in. A vulture that was still inside hissed and hopped out the broken passenger window. The car was stained with blood and bits of flesh, and Mikah nearly threw up. _Thank god for desensitizing video games, or I would have. _He thought, starting the car and wiping blood from the windshield. The alien drones now took notice, turning from the one that had attacked and running after the car as Mikah threw it into reverse, the tires throwing up dirt and gravel.

As he hit the red on the RPM gauge he spun the wheel, throwing the car into second gear. He kept moving the same direction, now driving forwards. _What the hell, that actually worked! _The aliens were right behind him, and then he realized he was heading east, not south, at eighty miles per hour. He turned the wheel far too quickly, the tires catching on a rut in the ground.

The next few seconds were blackness to him, noise barely filtering through the haze that he saw before him. He _did _vomit at this point, and he knew he had done something stupid. The car was flipping over in an endless barrel-roll, the aliens running after it. The average one ran ahead of the flipping vehicle, and was crushed as it flipped over it. The car came to a rest wheels down, the exterior distorted nearly past recognition and the inside a black mess of what had been a squad car. Mikah struggled to regain consciousness, seeing the blood of the crushed alien was melting through the roof of the car…but he gave in to the darkness as the aliens tore at the car, trying to reach him…


	12. Signs

**Da, frickin heck, I screwed up. I seem to have confused 1987 with 1986, if anyone noticed. This story takes place in November of 1986, and I have been saying 87 for a while. PLEASE TAKE NOTE; this is 1986, and if I say otherwise it is because I blanked. There, sorry for my own forgetfulness. I will be making an effort to correct those mistakes at a later time, but for now I'm too busy.**

**----------------**

**Chapter 12**

**Signs**

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_See, hear, and smell the signs of war; the iron in the air, the scent of blood, the flash of steel on steel, the cries of the enraged and the disemboweled, the fearful men that cannot hold their ground and the warriors that take it from them. War is full of signs of the courage of men and full of the hate as well. We are a warrior race, but no one but us can see it…until it is too late._

_-Hevar the Felean, before the destruction of Earth 5073 C.E._

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The sun rose once more over the city of Roswell, New Mexico, and with it came the tales of horrors unlike anyone had ever seen or heard. Whispers of ghosts in the night, of creature foul and wicked, and with these tales came fear. No one knew who or what it was…but one thing was quite certain.

A killer was loose in Roswell, and it was leaving a trail of bread crumbs to follow. Bloody, gory bread crumbs. It was all over the news, for hours on end, a string of murders all across the city. All that was found were mutilated bodies, some of them skinned and hung by their feet, and some with gaping holes in their heads and claw marks in their throats. Something was out there…and the people knew it.

Spine knew it as well, and he watched the town from the roof of the two-story house, his black form blending with the shingles. The only way anything would see him is if they were looking for him and knew right where he was. Sara happened to be doing just that.

"Spine, get inside before you get sniped or some shit like that!" She yelled from the window, and Spine quickly crawled to it, going inside and shutting the window behind him. "Isn't that predator thing still around?"

_Yes, it is. _Spine hissed. _And it must have begun its hunting. There are bodies being found all over the city…the humans are starting to panic._

"How long until the Army gets involved, do you think?"

_What army?_

"_The _Army…the United States Army?" Sara smiled. "Humans do have ways to defend ourselves, you know."

_We did not know that…I think that the Queen will end up getting more than she bargained for. _Spine smiled slightly. _I never knew that humans were even remotely capable of defending themselves. Besides bats, of course, I haven't seen a single human weapon of any kind._

"That's because they tend to be illegal." Sara said, following Spine down the stairs. Spine sniffed the air, smelling the same pheromones on him that he had sensed a day before. "What now?"

_Weird…nothing, I'm just thinking about something. _Spine shook his head, dropping from the ceiling to the kitchen floor. _I've done all I want to for today. What now? I'm not one to sit around doing nothing, you know, it's in my blood._

"Well, my parents will be by Sunday for Thanksgiving…"

_Wait…when were you going to mention this? _

"I forgot." Sara admitted. "Having an alien living with you tends to make you forget things."

_Right…so what do we do? I can't leave, and hiding will do no good with me. If I stay still too long I'll go insane. _

"Maybe I should introduce you as a friend that wears a suit?"

_They'll think I'm really insane then, and my body is far too realistic to be taken for a suit. _Spine stood on two legs, tapping his claws on the table. _I doubt you could just go ahead and say 'and this is Spine, he's a mass-murderer from the planet Mars and he's staying the weekend while his race kills off the town'. _

"Why not?"

_Eh?_

"Why not just tell them? I trust them to keep your existence from the other people, and they'll find out anyway. And…I can't just cancel it. If I did they would track me down and spy on me to see what was going on."

_Damn…I hate parents._

"It's a universal thing, I guess." Sara smiled. "Sorry for not telling you, Spine, but it _did _slip my mind."

_When is Sunday? I'm not much with human time terms…_

"…tomorrow."

_Shit…this isn't how I planned my weekend. _Spine dropped to all fours, running out of the room and up the stairs. _If you need me I'll be building a fallback shelter in the attic. _

"Good, we can use it to hide from my mother's cooking."

_She's the one that will be cooking?_

"She always does."

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Mikah stirred, the humid air swirling around him. All he could see was darkness, but based on the fact that it was unbearably humid and warm, and that there were faint echoes all around, he knew he was back in the alien's Hive. He tried to move and found that he was unbound, and not stuck to a wall this time around. He could feel a thick black _something _under his feet, like a kind of resin, but it seemed to have a pulse. Some of it was stuck on his chest and he pulled it off, finding his cuts healed.

The alien's had healed him.

_**You are a difficult human, you know? **_Mikah held his head in pain as the voice shot through it, causing him to fall to his knees. It was an almost human voice, and female, but it had an edge to it like a sword might, being beautiful as an ornament, but still deadly. _**It took a long time to find you. Be glad that I have not killed you. **_

"Who…who are you?" Mikah cried into the darkness, his voice being absorbed by the resin and falling silent. Then he realized the resin was sending his voice to the other, who was far away.

_**I am the Queen of this Hive…and the last Hive. **_The voice said. _**I can answer all in time…but you must eat first. A drone will be by shortly to bring you something, but I am not quite sure what you humans eat…is it meat or plants?**_

"Both…humans can at anything."

_**Interesting…I must make sure that trait is passed on to the next Queen and her offspring…**_The voice went silent for a moment, then came back with a little less clarity. _**If it is anything you would care about…you know that I am dying, and that my race will die with me. Unfortunately for you…you may be the only hope for this Hive unless a warrior molts soon, which is unlikely. **_

"And what would I have to do to help the Hive?"

_**Eat and sleep…that is all you must do. As long as you are alive the Hive has a chance. If you perish…so does this Hive. **_The voice faded away, and Mikah heard no more.

"Hello?" Mikah called. "Queen? Alien thing? Anyone?!" There was a rustling noise and suddenly a drone appeared before him…at least it seemed to be a drone, and then he realized it was the sand creature. "You!"

_Hello once again…we are glad that you survived longer that we expected. The traitor is dead, and now we have been needed for your protection._

"Traitor…Tommy?"

_That is what it was called…it is out in the desert, cut off from the Hive. It will not last long._

"You're speaking in complete sentences…"

_We have learned much since you were brought back. We had to for you to be cared for. _The alien gave a loud bark and a real drone appeared, carrying something in its teeth, what appeared to be a plant. _This is all we could scavenge on such short notice…but it is not poisonous and it tastes fairly good. _The plant was dropped at his feet, and then both alien's vanished into the endless darkness. _We will return when the Queen wills… _

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"What…is…_that_?" Sara asked, pointing to the black mass in the corner of the attic. Spine looked up from the metal box that was the air conditioner, looking from her to the mass.

_That…that would be my nest. It is never used, but it is bulletproof and fireproof. It is a last resort. _

"When, exactly, did you plan on telling me that you had built a nest in my attic?"

_Did you think I was joking about making a fallback shelter? I wasn't…this one took me an hour to build. _Spine began tapping the metal surface of the AC. _What…is this?_

"It's an AC; it keeps the air inside the house cool, and keeps it warm if needed." Sara sighed. "Just…just tell me next time you start building things in my house. I don't want to wake up one day and find that my house has come to life from an alien virus."

_I will try. _Spine followed her down the wooden ladder, avoiding the rungs and using the rails instead. _If we have to…we could both use it for shelter. It is large enough on the inside for three drones, much less a warrior and a human. I made it like that._

"Out of what?" Sara asked as they went down the stairs.

_A kind of resin that all Xenomorphs can secrete. It is very useful, almost like spider web in strength. It is what we make our Hives from._

"Weird…you guys are like some kind of hybrid of everything."

_That is precisely what we are. _Spine muttered. _I'm ready for anything that the world throws at me, so bring on the parents. _

"When you meet them, you will regret saying that."

_I probably will, but at this point I don't really care. I have too much of my host in me…_

**This A:N isn't a required read.**

**I finished up with reading Roomies by RocknKitty…and it looks a lot like this thing going on with a friend of mine. Anyway, it seems to me that Sara and Spine are almost roomies, I guess, so it struck me as interesting. I think I'm babbling now…I'll shut up. This story is going to take a while to plan out, so the next chap will take longer than normal. Much longer.**

**BTW, if you haven't read any of Kitty's stories, you are missing out on some good comedy. **


	13. Meet the Jeffersons

**Remember when the family arrived in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation? Picture that, but with fewer people. It's like meeting the in-laws, but worse, since Spine is an alien. **

**Dun dun dun duuuuun!**

**-----------------------------**

**Chapter 13**

**Meet the Jeffersons**

**-----------------------------**

"Alright, Spine, a few more things we need to talk about."

_Great, more rules._

"I need you to cover your teeth and lay down your spines…so they might see you as a nice alien instead of a murderous psychopath that deserted an invasion army."

_Isn't that lying?_

"This is for their safety, so it isn't wrong." Sara reasoned.

_Fine… _Spine stood up straighter, sealing his lips over his teeth, and all the spikes on his body laid flat against him, even the ones on his back, making him look vastly more human and more approachable. _Better?_

"Not really, but it makes me feel better." Sara swallowed a lump in her throat. "How do I look?"

_Like a human._

"I hate my life, I hate my life, I hate my life…" Sara muttered, turning towards the door. She was wearing a dress, of all things…and she hated it. She hated the makeup, it was too heavy on her face and it felt odd, and she hated the shoes above all else. But…it was her parents, after all.

A car door slammed, and Sara took a breath, going over everything in her head. She heard the footsteps, and said a quick prayer, reaching for the knob. When she opened the door she saw two people standing on her porch. The man was balding in the middle of his head and wore a plaid shirt and golfing pants. The man liked his golf. The woman was wearing a crimson dress much like Sara's, something that she grimaced at; it didn't fit her face at all. They both smiled when they saw her.

"There she is, all dressed up to see us!" The man said, steeping right in the door and hugging her so tightly she gasped in pain. "So good to see you Sara!"

"Carl, let her go, she can't breathe!" The woman cried, prying him off of her.

"Come on Linda, she's fine with it, right?"

"I…can't…breathe…" Sara gasped. Her father finally noticed Spine.

"Whoa, what is this?! Nice suit."

_I'm going to be blunt. It isn't a suit. _Spine said, tilting his head to the side.

"Huh?"

_This is how I look, Mr. Jefferson._

"Mr. Jefferson?" Sara asked.

_Even we aliens have manners…that includes homicidal ones as well. _Spine said privately to Sara.

"This is Spine; he's sort of a tenant." Sara explained quickly. "He's a good friend of mine…I promise he won't eat you."

"Eat me?"

"He's…well, to put it very simply, he's-"

_A highly aggressive, man-eating, homicidal, psychotic killing-machine that happens to be an alien from the future. _Spine interrupted. Sara stared at him. _What? I told the truth!_

"Exactly what I didn't want you to do…"

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Frizak stood in front of his ship, looking out over the city, the sun setting in a beautiful conflagration of yellow and red behind it. Even the Yautja knew beauty when they saw it, and the Earth was a place that was filled with it. Even so, to him it looked as if the city was on fire, and he chuckled to himself as he imagined the humans running about, trying to put out the flames and spreading them as they themselves were set alight.

Tomorrow would be a good day for hunting…

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"So…this guy is an _alien_?" Carl asked, narrowing an eye and jerking his thumb at Spine.

"That about sums it up, yeah." Sara said, grimacing. "Spine…what was the one thing I told you?"

_Don't kill anything?_

"Besides that."

_Um…don't try to scare your parents, no matter how much I like to hear screaming…_

"Right." Sara turned to him. "And what was the one thing that you did?"

_I didn't kill anything?_

"Spine…" The Xenomorph sighed.

_I tried to scare them. It didn't work though…_

"I've seen a lot of weird things in my life, son, and this isn't the weirdest by a long shot."

_What's weirder than your daughter having an alien for a roommate? _

"My neighbor…" Carl grimaced. "You should have seen what they did to their lawn before we left."

"They mowed a labyrinth into it so the mailman would get lost…and he hasn't been seen since."

"Wow…" Sara shrugged. "Sorry, Spine, that beats you hands down."

_How does that work out? Is not being afraid of hybrid super-killers in your genes?_

"Probably." Sara cleared her throat. "So we have all that straightened out? We're all good with the freaky alien thing?"

"I'm fine." Carl said.

"He better like mashed potatoes, that's all I have to say." Linda muttered angrily.

_Sara, I have to say this. _Spine stood up, looking down at the three. _You are the most idiotic humans on the face of the planet. Why do I even bother with you?_

"Because your life is in my hands."

_Damn…point to you. _Spine shrugged his shoulders. _Can I let my spines out now, since they don't mind me?_

"Go ahead." Instantly all the spikes on Spine's body extended, and he stretched, yawning loudly to show his serrated teeth. The two other humans didn't flinch.

_Damn, this family is screwed up past redemption. That's it; I'm going to watch TV…_

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"They handled that fairly well, I think." Sara said, tucking her feet into her chest and sitting on the edge of the bed. Spine was under the sheets, curled into a tiny ball. "I guess you didn't expect them to react that way."

_I think that they should have at least gasped. _Spine hissed. _They didn't even flinch when I spat acid on the lamp. _

"You'll have to fix that tomorrow, you know."

_Yeah, I know. Something…something isn't right about this. They aren't afraid of me in the least, and I tried everything I could. Your family is very odd._

"This from the mass-murdering alien from hell."

_Shut it…_

"Alright." Sara turned off her lamp, climbing under the sheets and moving Spine off to the side. "Well, good night."

_Whatever, walking snack._

The night wore on, and Sara fell asleep, the moonlight streaming in through the window. Spine lifted the sheets and peered at her, shivering.

_Good night, Sara…_

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Sara yawned, blinking in the light of the sun. For some reason she was warm, though the sheets were off of her. She turned her head and found out why; Spine lay beside her, snoring with one arm draped over her, drool dripping from his mouth onto the floor and making a black scorch mark. Sara smiled, leaning over and kissing him on the head.

_What the hell?! _Sara shook her head, looking down at the alien. _Why did I just kiss an alien? Man this guy is screwing me up…must be the acid fumes in the air. _Spine jerked awake, hissing and licking his lips.

_Eh? Where's the fire? _He looked around sleepily, finally resting his…whatever he saw with…on Sara. _Did you just do what I think you did?_

"Huh?"

_That's it; it's time for us to talk. I have put this off for _way _too long, and now it's getting crazy. _Spine sat up. _I'm just going to go ahead and say it…you are not acting like a normal human._

"It took you that long to figure that out?"

_No, not being you. I'm talking about the pheromones you are releasing._

"You've lost me."

_All living things have a scent, and you are releasing one that is often around the Xenomorph Queen. It is a sort of…mating scent. The problem is…it can only be produced by Xenomorph Queens, but you are producing it. Humans have the ability of universal pheromone conversion; you can make any scent if you need to. _

"I don't like where this is going."

_In short…you have adapted to release Xenomorph pheromones…directed towards me. _

"I can't take it; are you suggesting that-"

_And I am also releasing the pheromones in turn. _Spine interrupted. _That can mean only one thing…_

"That we're…in love?" Sara grimaced.

_No, that we're melting from the inside out…OF COURSE I MEAN THAT!_

"Ow!" Sara held her head, which rang from the force of Spines shout.

_Sorry…yes, I mean exactly that. This is not anything I have known to happen before…it is an impossibility, of course, and yet it seems that it is happening._

"And what does this mean?"

_Human pheromones are different. You can reject them like you would a certain food you don't like. _Spine explained. _Xenomorph scents…are adaptive, just as we are. They cannot be rejected by your mind or body. In short…we are both doomed._

"Son of a crap."

_I know. _Spine hissed. _Any questions?_

"One…is there _any _way to stop it?"

_I don't see why you would. Xenomorph pheromones are released based on your subconscious state…you really are feeling affection for me, and it is manifesting itself in physical form._

"I hate my life…I hate my life…I hate my life…"

_Look at it this way…you are the first human to do this sort of thing._

"The first human that wasn't killed on sight by your kind."

_Point. _Spine stood on all fours, leaping from the bed. _Sorry to put off this little…talk…for so long. I thought it would wear off, but it seems it is only growing worse. I suggest you try not to do anything stupid like that…perhaps we can force this into submission. _

"Fuckberries; this isn't how I planned to live my life after high school."

_Things never work out how you plan them in high school, I know that from experience._

"How?"

_My host never planned on his being turned into a host, did he? _Spine smiled and walked out of the room.

"Damnit, damnit, _damnit, damnit, DAMNIT!" _Sara cried. "Can this get any worse?!"

_Much…but we have to see if it will. _Spine said, his super-hearing letting him answer. _Your parents are up…can I try scaring them again?_

"Knock yourself out; I don't care right now…"

_Oh joy…_

There was a loud screech, a crash, a splat, and then a piercing scream.

_Success! _Spine cried. _Why does your father scream like that?_

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_**How many more eggs are left? **_

_Not enough…not enough. _The warrior answered.

_**I cannot lay any more…is the host ready?**_

_Not yet…_

_**It will take time…time I do not have. Hurry with your preparations…we must have a new Queen soon…**_

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Frizak swung his combistick in circles around him, eyes closed, the morning air cool against his skin. He had to be prepared for the hunt, and this time he would make no mistakes. He would find a worthy prey, and then he would have his first real trophy. Frizak breathed deeply, finishing his exercises and retracting his spear.

He picked up his mask, readying it for the hunt that would soon begin…when he heard a noise. Frizak spun around, clicking and trying to locate the source of the noise, but nothing else was on the plateau with him. Nothing on it…but _in_ it. Frizak was not prepared for the attack, the sand-creature leaping from the rock as if it had popped from the ground…and it had. The Yautja swung his spear at it, but it passed right through, the creature slamming into him.

Frizak struggled, but it was little use, soon he was surrounded by Xenomorphs. _Xenomorphs…if he had only known they were here! If he had been more vigilant…he was a disgrace. _Frizak hissed at the sand-creature, trying to kick it off, but found his legs bound in thick rope. _What? Clever beasts…very clever… _The predator chuckled at their quick work, gripping his spear and slamming it into one of the drones nearby, shattering its skull.

A loud sound came to him, and he felt something hard hit his head, and then Frizak the Yautja knew no more…\

**Wow, uber pwned by the Xenos! I lied…this didn't take me near as long as I thought it would. **


	14. Thanksgiving

**Here's an extra long chapter to celebrate!**

**What are we celebrating, you ask? This is the first anniversary of the day I began writing (give or take a few days). **

**Reviews count as presents! Sing a merry tune and read this funny chap!**

**Happy Halloween to all those humans/xenomorphs/cyborgs/pirates out there. At the end of this chapter is a special author's note…from a character? Who will it be? You'll see…**

**------------------------------**

**Chapter 14**

**Giving Thanks**

**------------------------------**

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Frizak coughed, noticing the blood he choked up. He was bleeding in the gums, from what felt like a punch. He was secured to something…a pole, the room around him cold and dark, and he was unable to make anything out but the warmth of the blood that dripped from his mouth to the floor. He spat out more, realizing he was tied to a pole and hanging face-downwards, as if he was being roasted over a fire, but there fire was missing.

It the place where the fire would be…was an egg.

Frizak blinked…no, it wasn't an egg, it was a rock. His head hurt, he was hallucinating, and he felt his legs were a little numb. Frizak extended his wrist blades, cutting both arms loose to hang upside-down, ten feet from the floor. The post was made entirely of resin, and so were his bonds, but his blades were enough to get him out. He didn't cut the resin holding his feet, however…he was too high up.

"They got you too, huh?" A voice said, and Frizak looked up…down….to see a human child sitting in a corner. "I didn't see them bring you in…what are you in for? Living? Being in the wrong place at the wrong time?" Frizak swung his wrist blades at the human, growling, but he shoved his rage away to focus on where he was.

"Cr-k-k-k-k-k-k…"

"What the hell?"

Frizak looked for something to grab onto while he cut himself down, but then decided that he would jump down anyways, no matter what he landed on. He reached up to cut himself down, his wrist blades slicing into the resin as if it was butter, the stuff cracking and turning to dust. He fell…then jerked, hung by something, and looking down at his feet he saw that he was also bound to the ceiling by length of steel cable. The Xenomorphs had gotten smarter, and more cautious, but they had forgotten about his wrist blades.

The cable was blackened by resin, and it was secured to his feet with a rubber sheath around it to keep it from cutting into his skin. The Xenomorphs were getting a little soft as well. Frizak reached up to slice the cables, but as soon as the metal blades touched the steel he went rigid, electricity coursing though his body like fire in his veins, and then he went limp, hanging down with arms extending below him.

_Smart little bastards… _He thought, blacking out.

-----------------------------------

Roswell Outskirts

-------------------------------------

"OW! Goddamnit!" Sara's father yelled, jerking his thumb away from the engine of his car and jumping back, hitting his head on the open hood in the process. "OW! DAMNIT!"

_Are you trying to poison the air or yourself? I could help with the last one, you know. _Carl turned around but nothing was there, and when he turned back he saw the alien sitting on top of the engine block. _You aren't a very good mechanic, either._

"And you think you can do any better?" He snapped, gritting his teeth.

_I'm an alien and even I know what's wrong with this vehicle by just looking at it. Of course, I can see through metal but that isn't the point. A family of rats made a nest inside the engine and has been squashed by the pistons. The goop left behind festered for a month without the car being used and has become a colony of super-bacteria. They are slowly eating their way out and when they escape they will kill of the human race as a mega-flu._

Carl was silent for a moment. "Really?"

_I can smell it from inside the house, in the attic, surrounded by the walls of my shelter. I am very sure. _The alien tapped the side of the engine block. _I can kill it all if you wish…you know, save the human race._

"Well then do it!"

_...say please._

"You're an alien! Aliens don't need for people to say please."

_Point…_Spine cracked his knuckles and placed them on the sides of the engine, rearing back his head and opening his mouth.

"Wait, are you going to spray acid on it?!"

…_you don't want me to?_

"No!"

…_fine. _Spine sighed, instead placing the end of his tail in the air-intake, the spines on the end spreading out and a thin green liquid squirting out. _There, that venom will spread and kill everything in there. It should work properly once the bacteria are gone, as they have been corroding the metal. The venom will repair it well enough for it to function. _

"You need to find a job for this, alien."

_My name is Spine, but I see why you say that. _Spine said, tapping the end of his tail on the bottom of the hood. _I'm still an alien…human cities and I do not mix well without a healthy dose of blood, screaming, and the odd impregnation. If those aren't added then it tastes funny._

"Funny…you're a comedian and a serial killer." Carl shook his head. "How long until that stuff is done working?"

_Ten minutes._

"Enough time for me to take a nap."

_Is ten minutes enough for that?_

"No, but four hours is."

_How is that the same as ten minutes? Oh…I get it. Fine, human, go sleep. I'll just go play in traffic…maybe kill a few children._

"Spine!" The alien looked up as Sara yelled out the door. "Get in here; you have some explaining to do!"

_Uh oh…_

------------------------

Sara Jefferson

------------------------

"Spine…" Sara struggled not to scream. "What…the _fuck_…is _that_?!"

The three humans and the one Xenomorph stared at a throbbing blob of black goop in the shower, about the size of a large cat. In fact, exactly the size of a large cat.

_Well…there's an interesting story that goes along with that, you see…_

"Tell me what the fuck is growing in my shower, you alien bastard!"Sara screamed.

"Sara!" Linda cried, horror on her face.

"Are you seeing this?! There's an alien thing growing in my shower, mom!"

"It's nothing to get upset about!"

"IT HAS A HEARTBEAT!"

_Calm down! _Spine yelled. Sara took a deep breath. _Now…that is what remains of the neighbor's cat, I had to store the bones somewhere where the cystic acid would break them down to eat later._

Sara fumed…and so did the blob, literally. "Get it out of here and put it in the trash."

_But-_

"NOW!"

Spine looked from each of them to the blob and back to each of them, then sighed and nodded. _Alright, alright, I hear you. I'll get it out. _Spine used his tail to cut the thing from the floor of the shower, picking it up and carrying it from the room. _Such a waste of good food…_

Everyone was silent for several moments.

"Who's up for some food?" Linda said, smiling.

"I'm out." Carl left, shaking his head.

"If you don't mind, I'll be disinfecting my shower before using it." Sara said, nodding her head. "Tell Spine that next time he does this I'll kill him, alien or not."

_I heard you, Sara, I'm not deaf. _Spine said from nowhere in particular.

"Good…don't forget it."

---------------------

Spine

_Thanksgiving Day_

------------------------

Spine looked around the table at the various foods he had never seen before, all piled about in a disorganized fashion. The spot where he had carved his little triangle was clear, but ever square inch of the rest was covered by…whatever it was. In the center of it all was the seared, steaming remains of some very large bird, which smelled horrible. How humans could look at it all and not either die of nausea, he had no idea. The only thing that looked remotely good wasn't even the food, but Sara, who was sitting across from him. Spine had to sit crouched in the chair with his legs to his chest.

"Well…long hours of work have really paid off." Linda said, looking over the landscape of foodstuffs. "Any questions or comments?"

_What is this for?_

"Pardon?"

_Why are we giving thanks again? _Spine asked, mentally raising an eyebrow.

"Well, when the Pilgrims first came to-" Carl started, but Sara held up her hand to stop him.

"I think I can explain." She said. "At some point in time, a few humans decided they didn't like where they lived, so they sailed across an ocean of incredible size to get to a land that had nothing on it. When they got here half of them hadn't survived the voyage and the ones that did had no idea how to survive. There happened to be a few Native Americans there that pitied the starving pilgrims and decided to give them food and teach them to plan crops. So, in honor of that act of generosity we give thanks every year."

Everyone was silent for a moment while Spine processed this.

_This seems like a waste of time and effort to me. _

"Spine, you think anything that doesn't involve blood is a waste."

_Not true! _He paused. _Alright, maybe a little true._

"You remind me of the roommate I had in college." Carl muttered, prodding the large bird in the center of the table.

"Did your roommate travel through time?" Sara asked.

"Actually, yes…though he used a hell of a lot of weed to do it. I swear, that kid lived inside of his own personal lava lamp…"

---------------

**Well, I don't know how to do this, but I suppose I can try. Hello, humans, I am your lord and master, Spine. Fear me. Well, that's not why I'm here; I'm here because Ty wants me to be. Are all you nasty little fleshbags having a nice, freaky Halloween? Good…don't forget to send me candy. It's bad enough having to put up with all you fools without having anything sugary to eat while doing so.**

**Well, it's time to say happy birthday to Tyrammafar. The author wasn't born around now, but the Worldmaker was, and so we all have to give a round of applause. I would, if it wasn't so dangerous, but I do get to uncork the champagne bottle with my tail, and that's always fun. Nice to get out of that Roswell heat for a bit…blazing hot there, even in November!**

**So, I guess this is it, morsels, sorry that I cannot 'hang' for a while longer, but duty calls as they say.**

**One final announcement.**** I think Ty was planning on keeping this a secret for longer, but I just have to tell someone…this story will have an off-shoot! Heh heh, Ty is writing up the first chapter now. Basically, it's going to be a TV series sort of like one of those good shows that got cancelled due to the Japs taking over the TV show industry. You see, being confined to Roswell is not something Sara or I want, and so we end up getting a Winnebago and hitting the road…**

**Yeah, it's a comedy. **

**See you people on the other side…don't let the facehuggers bite…that would be a shame. **

( ** (inner jaws emote)**

**-Spine Cyrosyl**


End file.
